HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) -- On Friday, the jury will hear closing arguments in the Demetrius Jackson Trial. Jackson is charged with capital murder in the 2020 shooting death of 8-year-old Royta Giles Junior in Hoover.
According to police, Jackson was involved in an argument with a group of people in the food court at the Riverchase Galleria when the shooting took place on Friday, July 3rd.
Two other men, King Williams and Montez Coleman, have both pleaded guilty and are serving prison time in this case.
The last person to take the stand in the trial was Jessica Layfield, Royta Giles’ mother.
She said she and her son had been talking and he had been dancing before the shooting occurred. They were there with his two sisters.
While on the stand, Layfield testified that she and her children were standing outside The Children’s Place when she heard more than five gunshots, and they all dropped down and tried to take cover.
She said her son, however, did not get up, and she noticed blood on his face and blood coming from the back of his head.
In court on Thursday, jurors also heard from Dr. Greg Davis, the Chief Medical Officer for Jefferson County who performed the autopsy on Royta Giles. Davis confirmed that Giles was hit in the head by one bullet and manner of death was homicide.
Hoover police have testified that Giles was hit with a 9 mm bullet, and that Demetrius Jackson used a 40-caliber pistol. Firearms expert Damon Cooper told the jury a 9 mm firearm was never recovered.
Demetrius Jackson's attorney Victor Revill has said in a previous interview with CBS 42, his client is not guilty and was placed in a position where he had to defend himself at the Riverchase Galleria on that Friday afternoon.
While Judge Owens denied the defense team's request for an acquittal on the capital murder charge, she agreed that self-defense instruction must be given at the close of the case on Friday.