SAN ANTONIO – A fellow gang member of a man on trial for the murder of a four-year-old boy took the stand to testify against him.
Quentin Phillips is on trial for the murder of De’Earlvion Whitley.
Phillips along with three others allegedly shot up the home Whitley was in.
On Thursday, shackled and escorted by federal agents, Charles Bethany was brought in to testify against Phillips.
Bethany is part of the same gang as Phillips and is facing a slew of federal charges unrelated to Whitley’s murder.
Surveillance footage of Phillips and several other men that Bethany said was recorded outside one of his stash houses was shown in court on Wednesday.
On the night of July 19, 2017, Bethany says he was driving between two stash houses, when Phillips, Terrell Chase and John Chatmon arrived at one on J Street.
He said Phillips walked up to him and said, “We shot up Earl’s house.”
Earl is De’Earlvion Whitley’s father who was an alleged member of a rival gang.
“Phillips said he was tired of Earl doing stuff and hiding,” Bethany said.
Bethany said he was angry as the shooting now left all their homes vulnerable to retaliation.
Bethany described Phillips as the “leader” among the men that committed the crime and that the others would listen to whatever he said.
He said Chatmon had placed the guns in his stash house but, when he later found out that Earl Whitley’s son was killed in the shooting, he decided to move them.
Bethany said he put them in a pillowcase and moved them to another location and never saw them again.
“I wanted to get them away from me,” Bethany said.
Bethany is awaiting sentencing on federal charges and was asked why he would testify against Phillips if he wasn’t promised any deals.
“Somebody has got to be accountable for that,” Bethany said.
Testimony will resume Friday morning in the 437th District Court.
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Surveillance video leading up to drive-by shooting that killed boy, 4, shown in first day of trial