Lexington man convicted in fatal shooting despite claiming he fired 14 shots out of fear
A Lexington man was convicted Thursday night of wanton murder after a four-day trial in which jurors heard evidence and testimony from witnesses of a fatal 2017 daylight shooting off busy South Broadway.
Dylan Andrew Capps, 22, was also found guilty of first-degree assault and two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment in the shooting, which severely injured another man and sent a bullet through an apartment with two people inside.
The May 22, 2017, shooting occurred in the parking lot of the Campus View Condominiums where two groups had gathered after a dispute between two people who lived at the complex.
Justin Jenkins, 19, was killed and Jordan Wise, who was 20 at the time, was shot between seven and nine times. Wise survived and testified during this week’s trial.
People driving by on South Broadway — along with others in the apartment complex and a nearby veterinary clinic — called 911 to report the shooting.
Before the violence, Wise had driven Jenkins and three others, including Ravon Woodhouse and Keegan Newton, from Frankfort to Lexington to meet a friend who said he’d been “jumped.” The friend, Daniel Childress, lived at Campus View and had been in a dispute with one of his roommates.
The group Jenkins and Wise were with took Woodhouse’s .380 Hi-Point handgun and Newton’s .22 rifle to meet with Childress. They had the guns because they didn’t know what they were walking into, Woodhouse testified.
Self-defense or ‘overkill’?
Capps’ defense attorney, Rawl Kazee, told jurors that Capps had fired his weapon in self-defense after seeing Newton’s rifle, which was designed to look like an assault-type weapon. The evidence did not show who had fired first, or who had weapons in hand at the time of the shooting, Kazee said in closing arguments.
Kazee told jurors that investigators should have done gunshot residue tests on more than three people who were at the scene and done more thorough searches for other guns that could have been in play during the incident.
Capps told detectives he fired every bullet in his .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun, 14 shots in total. Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kathryn Webster argued that pulling a trigger 14 times was not consistent with firing in self-defense.
Capps told detectives he’d been in his SUV and trying to drive away when he’d fired the shots. In an interview played for jurors, he could be seen illustrating how he said he did it, with his right hand on the steering wheel and the gun in his left hand. He said he leaned across the woman in the passenger seat to shoot out of the passenger window.
All of the shell casings from Capps’ gun were found outside in the middle of the parking lot, investigators testified. That would not have been the case had he been shooting from inside the vehicle, Webster told jurors. It was “overkill,” she said.
From fight to deadly shooting
Multiple witnesses from the group that came to Lexington with Wise said a woman got in the middle as both groups were squaring up to argue and fight. She was yelling and swinging a knife, ultimately stabbing Wise in the hand, Woodhouse said.
Wise didn’t see who stabbed him, but he swung to hit the person before his vision went white and he heard shooting, Wise testified.
Shots rang out the moment Wise hit the woman, Woodhouse said. He said Capps was firing.
Newton ran to get his rifle from the trunk of Wise’s car,, he testified. Everyone had started to scatter, and Newton saw the window of Capps’ SUV roll down as it was starting to drive away, Newton said.
Newton thought the SUV’s occupants were going to “finish the job” and kill Newton and Wise, so Newton fired one round at the SUV, striking it, he said. He was charged with wanton endangerment for firing at the vehicle but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. He is facing a recommended sentence of 90 days in jail.
Prosecutors argued only Newton and Capps fired shots..
Family members of Jenkins, Wise and Capps were visibly emotional at the reading of the verdict, which the jury reached after about two and a half hours of deliberation.
Capps will be sentenced at a later date.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 9:51 PM.
