Death penalty trial: Liquor store shopper testifies on robbery

Jocelyn Jones escaped a Las Vegas liquor store moments before a clerk was shot and killed in the back room.

Gunmen burst into a southwest valley Lee’s Discount Liquor in April 2016 while Jones was on the phone with a friend and about to buy a bottle of wine, she told jurors Wednesday.

“This is a robbery,” she heard them say. “This is a robbery.”

A robber with his gray hoodie up and tied, wearing a white sock on his right hand, initially told her to stand at the register.

“We need you to stay right here,” he told her.

Within seconds the man prosecutors have identified as Ray Charles Brown rushed past her to the rear of the store toward Matthew Christensen, a 24-year-old clerk who prosecutors said suffered six gunshot wounds from Brown’s revolver.

Before the bullets were fired, Jones saw a clear path toward the exit and slowly walked to the parking lot, passing a lookout.

“I looked at him and said, ‘I’m leaving,’” she testified. “He said, ‘Just go.’”

She said she didn’t run because she did not want to draw attention to herself.

Outside, she screamed on the phone with her friend: “The store got robbed. The store got robbed.” Then she got in her car and rushed home. She noticed several squad cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring, headed toward the liquor store, and did not call police, thinking they already were on their way. It was not until after she saw news stories about the robbery that she learned police were looking for her. She was quickly ruled out as a suspect.

Jones testified briefly during the death penalty trial for Brown, 26, who prosecutors said killed the clerk and fled with two accomplices who have since pleaded guilty and been sent to prison.

The white sock, Jones did not know at the time, covered a tattoo, a key detail that helped authorities identify Brown as the killer, according to prosecutors.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly told jurors during opening statements on Tuesday that Christensen was shot because he did not know the combination for the store’s safe.

Defense attorneys have suggested that Brown was not the man in the video.

Brown is charged with murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, burglary while in possession of a firearm, coercion with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

If the jury convicts him of first-degree murder, the same panel would be tasked with deciding whether he should receive capital punishment. Testimony, which continues Thursday, is expected to take up to two weeks.

Two brothers already have been sentenced for their roles in the robbery and Christensen’s killing.

Lee Dominic Sykes, 24, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, was sentenced to between 25 and 65 years in prison. He faced capital punishment before striking a deal with prosecutors.

His older brother, Lee Murray Sykes, 26, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and robbery charges, was sentenced to 15 to 40 years behind bars.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.