TOLEDO, Ohio — The trial of two Toledo men accused of killing 3-year-old Malachi Barnes began day two of its proceedings on Tuesday afternoon.
K'veon Giles and Matthew Smith are charged with murder in the incident that took place on Thanksgiving 2018. Police said a car pulled up next to a vehicle with three children inside and opened fire. The father of the children, Anthony Barnes, was driving the car.
Several witnesses were called to the stand Tuesday, including Malachi's father who gave an emotional testimony.
Opening statements started Tuesday afternoon and proceedings played out as the following:
PROSECUTION
TIMELINE
Opening statements from the prosecution revealed that after getting into the car sometime before 9 p.m. that night, Malachi never made it home.
The prosecution claimed that Malachi's father, Anthony Barnes, exited a hotel parking lot that night, where both defendants were waiting. Giles and Smith allegedly followed Anthony Barnes down Oregon Road and Miami, and then onto I-75.
The defendants are reported to have sped up next to Barnes' vehicle before spraying bullets at it. According to the prosecution, one of those bullets struck Malachi in the head.
The next day, a Chevy HHR — the vehicle in which Giles and Smith allegedly were traveling — was stopped by police and went through evidentiary processing. The vehicle was reported to have spent 40-caliber shell casings and a live caliber cartridge inside.
Smith allegedly denied having knowledge of evidence inside the vehicle and consistently changed his statements.
Another man, Andre White, was an alleged an accomplice in the incident. He was a co-defendant who chose to testify against Smith and Giles and has already pleaded guilty to charges of complicity to involuntary manslaughter and complicity to felonious assault.
The prosecution called the act "planned, discussed and premeditated," whether or not Malachi was the intended target.
EVIDENCE
Evidence from the prosecution is expected to demonstrate that both Giles and Smith were involved in an ongoing feud with the Barnes family.
The prosecution claimed that surveillance video will establish both Giles and Smith arrived at the Days Inn Hotel in a white Chevy HHR and additional footage will show the defendants traveling behind Barnes' vehicle, a Ford 500.
Giles' fingerprints reportedly were collected on the vehicle used in the shooting. There were cell phone pings taken from the area where the shooting occurred.
A witness is expected to testify to being inside the car.
DEFENSE
K'VEON GILES
The defense began its opening statement by questioning the reliability of the information provided by White, with one attorney quoted as saying:
"There's only evidence against K'veon Giles from the words of a convicted killer."
According to Giles' defense, no one else has said that Giles was in the car except for White.
The defense claimed that prosecution will not be able to prove when the fingerprints were put in the car nor will they be able to prove any specific time that the cell phone was in the area.
"There's nothing that puts K'veon Giles in the car that night," Giles' defense lawyer said.
MATTHEW SMITH
Smith's defense began by saying:
"The best the state can come up with is a convicted killer: Andre White."
Smith's team continued to question White's credibility, asking the jury if they would trust the word of a convicted killer, and claiming that this alone should raise reasonable doubt.
The defense also said the trial would turn up no weapons, claiming that no one actually knows who had the weapons since White's integrity could be greatly questioned.
The court went to break just before 3 p.m. Tuesday.
TUESDAY'S WITNESSES
ANTHONY BARNES
Malachi's father, Anthony Barnes, took the stand with an emotional testimony.
"That day changed my world. I lost my son," he said.
Barnes described the gathering that took place that night at the hotel. He said three families were there when they headed over around 4 - 5 p.m.
Barnes said that his stepmothers house had been "getting shot up" so in an effort to keep the kids safe, they decided to hold Thanksgiving at the hotel. The family stayed for about three hours until 8 or 9 p.m.
Barnes said he pulled his car up to the front entrance and put his two kids in the car. He was going to drop off Malachi at his mother's house, but when he got onto the expressway, he heard thumps in the car.
According to his testimony, Barnes' daughter said she was bleeding, and it didn't initially register that they were being shot at. However, he saw the vehicle clearly and later learned it was an HHR.
Barnes drove to the hospital and saw Malachi slumped over in the backseat. He said he grabbed his son's body and ran him to a nurse.
The hospital eventually told him that Malachi had passed away.
TPD OFFICERS
The first witness for the prosecution was a Toledo police officer who worked from 3:30 - 11:30 p.m. on the night of the incident.
They had been dispatched to St. Vincent's Hospital in response to someone being shot. When they arrived, the officer spoke to Anthony Barnes, whose vehicle had been hit by bullets. An image of the vehicle was viewed at the trial which showed that the rear window had been shot out and the body of the car covered in bullet holes.
The officer described Anthony Barnes that night as being "visibly upset, but wasn't emotionally radical."
Barnes allegedly told the officer that he and his children went to a Thanksgiving party at the hotel. They left on I-75 when Barnes reportedly heard loud thumps before seeing his child slumped in the back seat. He then drove to the hospital.
During an interrogation by Giles' attorney, the first witness said that Barnes didn't know how many suspects there were, but did describe a large white car.
The second witness was another TPD officer, who said they heard gunshots while writing parking tickets. They were also dispatched to the hospital for a reported gunshot victim along with Toledo police sergeant Paul Cunningham, who also took the stand on Tuesday.
Tuesday's fourth witness was a patrolman with TPD. The officer said they noticed multiple bullet holes on the side of Barnes' Ford 500. This officer picked up the bullet from St. Vincent Hospital.
A Toledo detective was the day's fifth witness. After heading to St. Vincent's that night, the detective went to the hotel on Oregon Rd., where the initial party took place.
TPD officer Mark Johnson testified next. Johnson said he downloaded five videos on relation to the case, including DVD from the hotel's surveillance system and surveillance from the Gas and Go at Cherry and Bancroft.
Following a series of testimonies from Toledo police, an audio and video expert was called in as the trial's seventh witness.
Tuesday's proceedings wrapped up with surveillance video from inside the hotel of the family gathering. The defense asked no questions.
This story will be continually updated as the trial continues. Check back with WTOL for the latest updates.