Breaking Trial Update: Prosecution and Defense in Eldorado Red Murder Trial Closing Argument Videos Released

Atlanta – September 2, 2014
Reporting by Dennis Byron

On Wednesday, both prosecution and defense rested their case in the murder trial of Gary Bradford aka Eldorado Red, Deandre Washington aka Main Easy, and Maurice Conner aka Da Boi who are accused of the execution-style murder of Melvin Vernell, III who was professionally known as Lil Phat. Special Gang Prosecutor Gabe Banks began his closing argument by telling the jury who Lil Phat was as a person. “He was 19 years old, a father of three girls, two with Alnese Frazier and one from a previous relationship. He was an aspiring rapper and on June 7th of 2012, his aspiring dream to make it big in the hip hop industry came to a halt, it ended, he experienced a premature death at the hands of these three defendants who actually tracked him down and hunted him down at the Northside Hospital around 6:40pm.”

The prosecution believes this was all to take revenge on Lil Phat for stealing marijuana from Decensae White and alleged Bloods gang leader Gary “Eldorado Red” Bradford. White also implicated Maurice Dewayne Conner and Deandre Washington in the murder. According to authorities, Conner and Washington were the gunmen hired to shoot the aspiring rapper.

White gave an account of the moments leading up to Phat’s death inside the Northside Hospital parking deck. According to a special agent for the FBI whose expertise is analyzing phone signals, it showed how Bradford, Washington, Conners, and White’s phone was in the area around the time of the murder.

In earlier trial testimony, Decensae White stated:

“We see that [Phat’s] car is there. We circle around the parking deck and then exited the parking deck. Red gets on the phone with Conner, and tells him to stay there and, ‘Do you see the car?’ He said, ‘Yes,’” White told Fulton County Prosecutor Gabe Banks. “That’s when Red was saying, ‘Gun his ass or kill him right there basically.”

Prosecutor Banks was responsible for delivering the entire closing  argument for the state as well as well as he presented the rebuttal argument after the defense delivered their closing arguments.

Check out the entire closing arguments of the prosecution below: