AURORA | Two men accused of gunning down a 22-year-old man outside an Aurora bar almost two years ago are scheduled to go on trial next week.
Christopher Williams, 23, and Daeshaun Howard, 21, are both charged with first-degree murder stemming from the April 2013 slaying of Christopher Bryant.
The pair, who have been in jail since their arrest in December 2013, are being tried together, said Michelle Yi, a spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office.
Their trials are set to start Feb. 22 and expected to last two weeks.
A third suspect in Bryant’s killing, Jovonte Jiles, 20, pleaded guilty to murder in 2014 and was sentenced to seven years in the Department of Corrections Youthful Offender System, Yi said. If he doesn’t complete the youth program, he faces 20 years in prison, Yi said.
According to an arrest affidavit filed against Jiles, he, Williams and Howard went to Primo’s Bar near East Colfax Avenue and Chester Street that night with a woman. The woman with the trio was drunk and one of the men with her may have been mad because she danced with several men, including Bryant, according to the affidavit. While Bryant stood outside smoking a cigarette, the three men approached and at least two of them opened fire with pistols, killing Bryant and wounding his friend, according to police.
Many witnesses told police the bar was hosting a concert and birthday party that night and several witnesses said there were a few arguments throughout the evening between gang members, but none of the disputes became physical.
A few minutes before the shooting, police said the three suspects and the woman are seen in surveillance video leaving the bar and walking to a car, where the men grabbed something from the rear of the vehicle. The woman then ran south on Chester Street and the men approached a group of people smoking in front of the bar.
Investigators found bullet casings from two pistols at the scene, but it wasn’t clear from the affidavit if police believe there were two gunmen or three.
The lengthy arrest affidavit — 20 pages long — details an investigation that played out both online and in person with dozens of interviews with people who were in the bar that night. Some witnesses were reluctant to speak to police because they were scared for their safety.
It was Jiles’ Facebook page that eventually led investigators to the woman seen dancing in the surveillance video.
After that woman was arrested in Arapahoe County on shoplifting charges, police interviewed her and she confirmed she was there with Williams and two other men that night. She told police at one point she went to the car and fell asleep. Later, she said Williams and his two friends jumped in the car and sped off, not saying anything about a shooting.