SAN ANTONIO – In his statement to police, Joshua Joyner, 16, admitted that he was shot and fled to a hospital for treatment. That recorded statement was played for a jury on Thursday during his capital murder trial.
Joyner is accused of shooting Albert Nelson, 19, to death during what prosecutors said was a setup to rob Nelson of 7 ounces of marijuana.
The two met in the parking lot of Elolf Elementary School on the afternoon of July 24, 2015. Prosecutors allege that Joyner had lured Nelson to the parking lot, where he and four other teens planned to rob him.
Prosecutors said the plan fell apart when Nelson refused to allow the teens to hold the bag of marijuana. Joyner allegedly shot Nelson, and Nelson apparently managed to fire one shot as Joyner fled. Joyner was later arrested at a hospital, where he’d sought treatment for a gunshot wound.
Joyner’s lawyer, Mario Trevino, was critical of the police procedure used to record the interview.
“He was taken directly to the videotape room, where he gave his statement from the hospital,” Trevino said. “He’d just been shot. He was only 15 years old, and he was never read his rights.”
In previous testimony, police said that a gun was found in Nelson’s car, and the gun they believe belonged to Joyner was found hidden nearby in a drainage ditch.
Prosecutors may rest their case on Friday in Judge Laura Parker’s 386th District Court.