PLYMOUTH — In November, a jury found Rula Jones not guilty of murdering Brockton’s Greg Grantsis. Now a second jury is deliberating if his brother, Shamallah Jones, is guilty. Jurors did not return a verdict on Friday. They will resume deliberations on Monday.
The state and defense gave closing arguments Thursday, Feb. 1, in this second of two trials in Grantsis’ Nov. 9, 2021 death. The commonwealth tried each Jones brother separately.
The commonwealth argued that Shamallah Jones is the person seen running down Warren Avenue in Brockton with a gun in his hand shortly after someone fired seven shots at Grantsis, mortally wounding him and also injuring one of Grantsis’ friends. Jurors were played videos of the incident, but no clip shows who fired the .45-caliber pistol.
“You don’t have to decide which one of them it was because they were acting together in a joint venture,” said Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney David Jay Cutshall. In a Friday note to Judge Elaine M. Buckley, jurors asked for a clarification on a legal element of “joint ventures.”
Both sides dissected videos in their closing statements. “Greg Grantsis … wasn’t just an image on the screen,” Cutshall told jurors. “Greg was alive in every sense of the word. And that life was taken from him when he was murdered in cold blood. The defendant was the man with the gun in his hand. I ask you to find him guilty.”
Lawyers for Shamallah Jones argued that the state didn’t prove its case. Attorney Joshua C. Wood told jurors that “even if you thought maybe Sham did this,” that wouldn’t be enough to convict him. “It’s not proof beyond all doubt.”
Shamallah Jones did not testify. He has pleaded “not guilty” to six charges: First-degree murder, assault and battery and aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed assault with intent to murder and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
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What happened on night of shooting?
The night of the shooting, state police had pulled over Rula Jones in a gray Infiniti. Cutshall said the Jones brothers were on a call with each other and the phone line was open throughout the motor vehicle stop. The two — who share the same Dorchester address — made a plan to meet at their mother’s house in Brockton.
Also that night, Grantsis and Rula Jones had a road-rage conflict over Grantsis being cut off. Grantis, driving a Mazda with two friends on board, followed a gray Infiniti driven by Rula Jones to the area of 69 Tremont St. That’s where the Jones’ mother lives. Prosecutors said Shamallah Jones pulled up shortly after in a red Nissan Rogue.
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What’s the evidence?
Cutshall argued to jurors that clues in three areas prove Shamallah Jones’ guilt: “Hood. Shoes. Phone.”
Cutshall detailed what each Jones brother was wearing, each one’s cell phone location data and the style of their shoes. Rula Jones was wearing a sweatshirt without a hood. Cutshall said that means he can’t be the person seen running down Warren Avenue after the shooting. That person’s sweatshirt had a hood.
“That runner cannot be Rula,” the prosecutor said.
Cutshall said Shamallah Jones’ behavior after the shooting, including starting to use a new phone, points the finger at him.
“These are the actions of someone who knows they were just involved in a very serious crime,” Cutshall said.
Defense attorney points finger at other brother
Wood, the defense attorney, said the runner got into the gray Infiniti. DNA tests of that car, Wood said, excluded Shamallah Jones but included Rula Jones.
Prosecutors said Shamallah Jones had, after the shooting, driven the Infiniti to Boston, where police did not find it for three days. The commonwealth says that gave time to clean the vehicle, and explains why none of Shamallah Jone’s skin cells were found in the car.
“It was Rula all along,” the defense attorney said.
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