NEW BOSTON, Texas -- A Bowie County jury is expected to return to the courthouse Friday morning to continue deliberations in the capital murder trial of a man accused of killing in the course of a drug-related robbery.
Kristopher "Flip" Wilson, 26, took the stand in his own defense Thursday morning. Under questioning by Texarkana lawyer Derric McFarland, Wilson denied he shot 27-year-old Chase Porier the evening of Dec. 27, 2020, and claimed fear of his younger co-defendant prevented him from contacting law enforcement after the murder.
Wilson and Brandon "BB" Parkman, 19, are both charged in Porier's death. Parkman is set for trial in June. Porier, who was selling THC vaping cartridges from his trailer on Forest Circle in the Liberty Eylau area of Bowie County, was shot in the neck and died before first responders arrived.
An eyewitness to the shooting, Dewayne Terry, testified again Thursday in rebuttal for the state. Terry said Wilson and a second man, later identified as Parkman, pulled up to Porier's home at about the same time he did. Terry told Porier two men he didn't know were outside and Porier "waved" them inside.
Terry testified that he was sitting in a chair next to the couch where Porier was sitting as Wilson crouched down to look through a box of vaping cartridges in varying flavors. Terry said Wilson made a "half turn" as he stood up before pointing a handgun with an extended magazine at Porier and firing a single shot into his neck.
Terry said Wilson and his companion grabbed some of the THC cartridges, known on the street as "carts," before walking out. Terry said that as he told his fatally wounded friend he was calling 911, the men came back inside and took his and Porier's cell phones.
To get help for Porier, Terry ran across the street and enlisted a neighbor who was outside on his porch. Porier died at the scene.
Wilson testified that he is a regular user of marijuana and THC products and that he'd bought carts from Porier before after being introduced to him by a co-worker. In Wilson's version of events, he agreed to take Parkman with him to Porier's after running into him at a birthday gathering not far from Porier's home.
Wilson said he thought he and Parkman could negotiate a better deal with Porier if they pooled their money and bought in bulk but claimed Parkman wouldn't hand over any cash before they entered the trailer.
Wilson admitted he had a pink handgun with an extended magazine in his pocket when he went to Porier's but testified that he always carries the gun for "his and his family's protection." Wilson said Parkman shot Porier and that he pulled his gun out when he hard "a loud boom."
Wilson theorized that blood collected from the gun which showed a mixture of his and Porier's DNA must have gotten onto the weapon when he picked up Terry's phone at Parkman's instruction. Wilson further explained the presence of blood containing Porier's DNA on one of his boots and his jacket as somehow getting on him from touching the phone.
"I never fired the gun that night. It hadn't been shot in weeks. Sometimes I shoot when I hear a coyote or I heard a panther out there, whatever is making that crying noise," Wilson said.
Wilson claimed he dropped the phone he took from Terry on his left side and that the phone might have had blood on it which stained his jacket, gun and boot and hypothesized that blood might have "sprayed out the wound" in Porier's neck.
Wilson said he lied to investigators about the identity of who was with him because he was terrified of Parkman, who turned 18 about three weeks before the shooting.
"I wanted to call the police but in my mind, if I call the police while he's still out, he could throw a molatov or throw a bomb at my house," Wilson testified.
Wilson said he doesn't blame Terry for identifying him as the shooter and that "in my mind I saved his life."
Under cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins questioned Wilson about how blood stained the front of his jacket when Wilson testified he dropped a possibly bloody phone on his left side.
When asked about taking Porier's and Terry's phones, the only means in the house of calling for help, Wilson replied, "Well, they could have had a landline."
In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Randle Smolarz told the jury that Wilson's version doesn't match the physical evidence.
McFarland argued that for Wilson, the trip to Porier's with Parkman was akin to a "beer run" and pointed out that a firearms expert who testified Wednesday said the bullet recovered from Porier's body was too deformed to determine what weapon it was fired from.
Akins argued that Wilson's account was unbelievable and quipped, "when my friends and I go get beer we don't say, make sure you have your guns."
Akins theorized that Wilson saw Porier as an easy mark because he lived alone in a rural area on a dead end road and had drugs he could steal. Akins said that to find Wilson not guilty jurors would have to completely discount the eyewitness testimony.
"He said the man in the gray Dickies jacket shot my friend, took the carts and ran out of the house and then he came back in and took my cell phone," Akins argued. "If Kristopher Wilson didn't shoot Chase, then nobody did."
The jury deliberated for about two hours Thursday afternoon before being placed in an evening recess by 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison with instructions to return to court Friday morning to continue.
The jury has the option of finding Wilson guilty of capital murder, guilty of felony murder or acquitting him. If convicted of capital murder, Wilson faces life without parole as the state is not seeking the death penalty. If found guilty of felony murder, the jury will be asked to sentence Wilson in the range of five to 99 years or life in prison.
A verdict is expected Friday.
CHASE PORIER (Submitted photo)