Thompson murder trial: key witnesses speak

The jury heard from key witnesses during the second day of a Jefferson City murder trial Tuesday.

19-year-old Charles Thompson is charged with the February 2015 killing of Johnny Evans in Jefferson City.

The first witness called was the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Evans. he testified that Evans died from blood loss due to a gunshot wound.

The jury was shown photographs of the autopsy as they were walked through the process of the examiner.

But the main two key witnesses for the defense were Robert Burks, who allegedly drove the suspects to and from the scene in his car, and Vincent Smith, the other suspect who allegedly entered the house with Thompson.

Both of them have testimony pointing to Thompson as the shooter. However, the defense attorney questioned these testimonies during cross-examination.

Each witness was walked back through their first interviews with police from more than a year ago and several inconsistencies were pointed out.

Both Burks and Smith have accepted deals with the state to have murder and burglary charges dropped in exchange for their testimony. A fact which Thompson’s defense focused on heavily.

ABC 17’s Joe McLean spoke with some of Thompson’s family members today and asked how they reacted when they first heard about the murder charge.

Yolanda Jones, Charles Thompson’s Mother said, “My reaction was, ‘no way, my son did not do this.’ This is not something that my son would’ve done. You know, this is not the kid who was brought up in church.”

She went on to say, “I just knew this was not my Charles and this was not something that he is capable of doing.”

Thompson’s mother also told ABC 17 that she believes the evidence will speak for itself and her son will be exonerated.