Jury hears opening arguments on first day of Columbia man’s double homicide trial
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A jury for a Columbia man accused in a double homicide in November 2022 heard the first set of opening arguments on Tuesday.
Cadilac Derrick, 37, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, second-degree domestic assault and endangering the welfare of a child after a Dec. 16, 2022, grand jury indictment. Those charges were upgraded from the initial second-degree murder charges filed in November 2022.
Derrick was accused of shooting two women to death on Nov. 5, 2022, in the 1600 block of Boyd Lane. Police identified the women as Lea'johna Sanders, 22, and Laura Myers, 53, both of Columbia. Derrick was the father of an infant with one of the women.
The jury first heard opening statements from Assistant Prosecutor Risa Perkins, who is representing the state.
She read aloud texts messages supposedly sent from Derrick to Sanders that said “I'm going to shoot you in the head” and “you deserve to be dead.” Just a few months after these texts were sent, Sanders was dead.
Derrick's attorney shared opening statements. His attorney recounted the night of the incident, saying Derrick shot the women in self-defense.
"Cadilac's account of this scenario is consistent with physical evidence, it's consistent with the 911 calls, it's consistent with the autopsy report, it's consistent with toxicology records," his attorney said. "The evidence in this case will show his actions in respect to Lea'johna were self-defense."
Derrick's attorney stated that the women were intoxicated that night and the only reason the shooting occurred was that Laura Meyer decided to go into the home and unleash "chaos".
According to the defense, Myers and Derrick did not have a good relationship. Following the shooting, Derrick used Sanders' phone and called the Moberly Police Department to tell an officer what had happened on Boyd Lane.
The first person to take the stand was a person with Boone County Joint Communications, who at the time of the killing was a records custodian. She was asked to find the recording of the 911 call from November 5ht on Boyd lane.
A 911 call from Nov. 5 includes Sanders speaking to a dispatcher and saying Derrick was threatening her, and if she doesn't stay with him, he would kill her and her mother and that he is armed with a gun. Sanders said the gun was in his closet and that she was scared for her and her child. Then, gunshots ring out.
Two Columbia police officers also took the stand. Both men were called to respond to the shooting on Boyd Lane.
One of the officers was the first person to enter the apartment with a ballistic shield because they had heard from Joint Communications that shots were fired. Body camera footage shows the officers announce themselves before entering, then moving to the upstairs apartment where the victims were.
Officers saw Myers lying on the floor of the living room with a gunshot wound to her face and torso. Myers had told the officer her daughter was in the kitchen. Myers could be heard saying "I can't breathe" and "I'm going to die" in the body camera footage. No one in the video was able to say how the situation came to be, or who shot the women.
The officer then heard crying and went to find the baby. He took the baby to the Children's Division. No injuries were present on the baby.
Another officer who responded that night took the stand. He said he saw blood on the floor and a woman calling for help, who said she had been shot. The officer had recognized Myers and Sanders from a previous call he responded to on Riah Street in reference for a harassment call.
The second officer said Sanders wasn't moving and had blood coming from her body and she had a pulse.
It took almost six hours for the final jury to be chosen to sit in on the trial. A jury of 12 people and two alternates were chosen.
Derrick was arrested in November 2022 in connection to the deaths of the women. Court documents in previous reporting say that Derrick was the father of an infant with one of the women.
Police were called to the scene when a woman told dispatchers that Derrick refused to give her house keys and had been abusing her. She also said Derrick threatened her, court documents claimed.
Dispatchers heard gunshots and a man's voice saying things including "now what" after the shooting, according to documents.
Derrick has had a history of domestic violence accusations, was previously charged with felony domestic abuse and child endangerment, and was on probation at the time for peace disturbance.
According to the statement, Derrick told police that the women shot at him and after a struggle over the gun, Derrick then started shooting. It wasn't clear who he allegedly struggled with -- the victims' names are redacted in the police statement.
Trial is set to resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Boone County Courthouse.
