Witnesses describe road rage murder scene | News

GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - The trial is underway for a brother and sister charged in a deadly road rage shooting in Grand Rapids.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered opening statements Tuesday in the case of Jeannette and Jountay Davis. Police say in February, the siblings got into a minor car crash with Lance Byers, which led to an argument. Officers claim Jeannette shot and killed Byers during that fight. Jountay is being charged as an accessory after the murder took place.  

Three people, two men and a woman, took the stand Tuesday to describe what they saw at the intersection of Lafayette and State Street SE that day in February.  All three of them were passing the intersection when they saw the confrontation between the Davis' and Byers start with an argument and escalate to a shoving match.  All three witnesses described hearing the pop of a gun within 10 seconds of the confrontation beginning.  After the shooting, one of the witnesses told the court that the siblings took off like a "bat out of hell" and drove away.

The witnesses described how Byers then tried to get into his car, but fell to the ground.  Byers car then rolled over one of his limbs.

One witness was a nurse and went to aid Byers who laid on the ground.  She testified that he was coughing up blood and soon lost consciousness and she lost feeling a pulse.  She began performing CPR and continued with chest compressions on Byers until the ambulance arrived. 

The defense tried to poke holes in her testimony because during earlier police interviews she had testified that a man pulled the gun and shot Byers.  In later interviews, she says that the woman fired the gun.

The trial is expected to go through the week.