Fayette County jury finds man not guilty of murder in 2016 shooting death of woman
A Lexington jury acquitted a man accused of murder at the conclusion of the first trial to be held in Fayette County Circuit Court since the outbreak of COVID-19 began.
Jarvis Garrett, 28, was found not guilty of murder Wednesday in the death of 46-year-old Stephanie Mullins.
Mullins was found dead on Aug. 7, 2016 behind an apartment building on Cross Keys Road in Lexington. She had been shot twice.
Police charged Garrett with murder in connection with Mullins’ death after DNA that was found on her hands was tested and found to be his, witnesses testified at trial.
Garrett’s attorney, Daniel Whitley, argued that the DNA evidence was not enough to prove that Garrett shot Mullins and killed her.
“I don’t know who did this to this woman, I don’t know why they did it,” Whitley said in his closing arguments. “But it’s not him. This man is innocent.”
No other person’s DNA was found on Mullins’ body, according to forensic scientists who testified at trial.
In his closing arguments, assistant commonwealth’s attorney Dan Laren said that Mullins may have offered Garrett sex in exchange for drugs. Something went wrong during the transaction, leading to the shooting, Laren argued.
The transaction had likely been happening in a car before Mullins tried to run away before being killed in the nearby brush, Laren said. He argued that the DNA evidence and other testimony showed that Garrett was the one who killed her.
Whitley maintained that Garrett was innocent, saying that no evidence or witness was able to explain how or when Garrett’s DNA ended up on Mullins’ hands. The DNA evidence was identified by forensic scientists as semen.
Both Mullins and Garrett were captured on surveillance video at a Speedway gas station two hours before Mullins’ death, but Laren and Whitley disagreed about whether the video showed the two leaving together or separately.
A witness who called 9-1-1 after hearing gunshots and a woman screaming near his Cross Keys Road home on the night of the shooting reported that he saw a light-skinned man who was Black or Hispanic running from the area with a gun. Whitley argued that the witness never identified his client as the person he saw flee the scene.
In an interview played at trial between a Lexington Police Department detective and Garrett, the detective could be heard telling Garrett that investigators had eye witnesses and evidence that showed he killed Mullins. Whitley argued that they were trying to get a false confession out of Garrett, and if they were going to say they had so much evidence they should have brought it to trial.
Throughout the trial, investigators and forensic experts testified about the disturbing circumstances surrounding Mullins’ death. She was found unclothed and unresponsive behind brush in the Wolf Run Park area behind apartments on Cross Keys Road. She had been shot in the head and someone had also put the gun in her vagina and pulled the trigger.
During his closing arguments, Laren speculated about why someone would have shot Mullins where they did. He told jurors that it could have been rage or an attempt to hide evidence of a sexual encounter.
When Mullins’ roommate testified earlier in the trial, he said that Mullins had gone through some tough times and was trying to get back on her feet.
Mullins left behind five children and six grand children.
Garrett’s trial was the first to take place in Fayette County Circuit Court since the outbreak of COVID-19 began, and several safety precautions were in place in the courtroom.
After a day-long jury selection process Monday, jurors heard arguments and testimony Tuesday and Wednesday from the area where an audience would usually be seated. Jury deliberations, which are usually held in a separate smaller room, were also held in the open court room so jurors could spread out.
Jurors deliberated for about two hours before acquitting Garrett.
Because of the socially-distant set up of the jury, family members of Garrett and Mullins were not able to be in the courtroom and instead watched the proceedings through live-streamed video.
