State v. Early

McCullough, Judge.

Defendant Damenon Ropmele Early (“defendant”) was tried before a jury at the 13 August 2007 Criminal Session of Cleveland County Superior Court after being charged with one count of first-degree murder. The State’s evidence tended to show the following: On 17 April 2006, Paras Samuel, Jared Smith, Omar Wilson and Dedrick Wilson were at Jared Smith’s house playing cards and drinking alcohol. At around 7:30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m., Samuel drove them all to Michael Degree’s house, which is in the Robertsdale neighborhood. After speaking to Orlando Ager, Samuel and Jared Smith joined…