BEAUMONT, Texas — A Beaumont man on trial this week for a 2021 murder that prosecutors described as a home invasion drug robbery gone bad has turned state’s evidence midway through his trial as part of a plea deal.
Opening statements began Tuesday afternoon for Jacorry Jamard Green who is charged with murder in the shooting death of Tyler Womack, 29, of Beaumont. He is being held in the Jefferson County jail on bonds totaling more than $1.5 million.
On Wednesday, after the jury was dismissed for the day, Green changed his plea to guilty as part of a deal that would result in him serving a20-year prison sentence according to prosecutors.
The deal is contingent on him testifying against two others involved in the crime.
The trial was in its second day of testimony and the prosecution was still presenting its case when Green made the deal.
Green’s plea deal was announced during court Thursday morning by Judge John Stevens before he dismissed the jury.
The plea deal will include Green testifying against two others who have been charged in the crime but have not yet been indicted Judge Stevens told jurors Thursday morning.
“He was certainly involved up to his neck in the homicide,” Stevens told the jurors, “but apparently, the others may have been the ones who were the more likely people who actually did the shooting, which resulted in four shots in the back.”
Prosecutor Mike Laird told jurors on Tuesday during opening statements that Womack had been selling drugs and had recently made a post on social media saying he had just come back from Oregon with a shipment of marijuana.
He also told jurors on Tuesday that they would see security video showing four masked men, one armed with a handgun and one with a rifle, approaching Womack's house from the rear and forcing their way inside.
Wednesday's testimony
On Wednesday, prosecutor Mike Laird called a woman to the stand who testified about an overheard phone call took the stand this afternoon.
The defense objected to the testimony saying it was "hearsay," but Judge Stevens overruled the objection and allowed the witness to testify.
What the witness told police would help the jury "understand what direction law enforcement may be taking in an investigation,” Stevens said in court.
The witness testified that a woman was speaking loudly on a cell phone about seeing the murder on the news. The witness testified that the woman on the phone said that Green should never have gone to the house.
She testified that she took notes of the conversation and later told the police about what she heard.
Defense attorney James Makin during cross examination asked the witness if she had the notes. The witness said she did not because she gave them to the police.
Makin asked Laird if he had the notes, but Laird did not. Laird then asked that the notes be retrieved from the police.
Prosecutor Mike Laird later questioned the owner of an auto shop that also deals in interlock devices.
The owner testified that they do ankle monitors, breathalyzer and other monitors. She testified that she knew Green because of her business.
She testified that there were no issues with Green in following the monitor rules, but there was an issue on July 10 when the monitor went dead around 7 a.m. and remained dead until 7:30 a.m. the next day.
She testified that his ankle monitor went dead again on July 12 and July 13.
In cross examination, Makin asked if Green was arrested and in custody on July 13, if she would expect him to have a charged monitor. She answered no.
He asked why she did not retrieve the ankle monitor from him if he was in jail.
She testified that they often leave them with the person after they are arrested in case they are released on bond.
Tuesday's testimony
On Tuesday, Laird told jurors that Womack had been selling drugs and had recently made a post on social media saying he had just come back from Oregon with a shipment of marijuana.
He also told jurors they would see security video showing four masked men, one armed with a handgun and one with a rifle, approaching Womack's house from the rear and forcing their way inside.
The video, he told jurors, will also show the masked men running from the home with stolen drugs and guns before Womack appear, wounded, running across the street to a neighbor's home where he died on their front porch.
Laird went on to tell jurors that video led to Green being identified and that a gun and bullets will tie him to the murder.
Green's defense attorney, James Makin, in his brief opening statements said "well I naturally disagree with a lot of that, but it doesn't matter whether I disagree, it matters if you disagree."
Makin told jurors that they would be expected to "guess and assume about a robbery conspiracy."
He told jurors they would see video of a house of that was ransacked but where no fingerprints or DNA were found.
"You get to decide" Makin told jurors on Tuesday.
Background of the case
The deadly shooting took place early Sunday morning on July 11, 2021.
Beaumont Police were called to the 4200 block of Woodlawn Drive after receiving a call about a victim of a shooting.
When officers got to the scene, they found Womack on the front porch of a residence suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police found a trail of blood that led back to a nearby residence. At the second residence, officers found evidence that suggested the deadly shooting took place there.
Family of Tyler Womack say he was 'sunshine in human form'
Detectives later learned that Green was allegedly involved in the murder, according to a probable cause affidavit. Green already had an active warrant out for his arrest for robbery and was wearing an ankle monitor.
Beaumont Police found Green two days later in a vehicle in the 900 block of W. Florida Avenue. Green was found to have a handgun that police believe was taken during the Sunday shooting.
Police obtained a sworn statement from a witness who said Green told them he was at the scene at the time of the murder, according to an affidavit.
Green was already in jail for a robbery charge when Judge Ben Collins signed a murder warrant in July of 2021, officially charging him with the murder of Womack.
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