A witness testified late Wednesday night that Stephen Mobley appeared to be upset on the night he shot three women because they declined to have sex with him.
David Reed, 25, appeared as a witness in the trial of the 34-year-old Mobley, who is charged with double homicide for a slaying in 2016.
During an interview with police after the incident, Reed said he recalled telling his father he was scared of the defendant.
"Do you recall telling your dad that Mobley told you you better not tell the police s---?" asked Prosecutor Cameron Williams.
"No," said the witness.
Prosecutor Williams later asked about a previous statement from Reed, where he said the defendant was upset on the night of the slaying because he "couldn’t get none."
"What does that mean?" asked Prosecutor Williams.
"I guess he couldn’t have sex," said Reed.
"Couldn’t have sex with who?"
"I guess any of them."
During the 2016 Labor Day murders, Jasmine Hines, 22, and Rashaud Taylor, 23, were both killed.
Victim Zirrshaddia Scott, 23, suffered two gunshot wounds but survived.
On Wednesday, Reed was brought into Judge Barry Steelman’s courtroom in handcuffs, having been taken into custody for the purpose of his testimony.
Reed told prosecutor Williams that he had gone to school with the three victims and that the defendant was his cousin. He said Mobley had lived with him at 7458 Pinewood Dr. for more than a month.
Reed also stated that Mobley had become upset on the night of the slaying and began arguing after Ms. Scott threw up in a bathroom sink.
"They exchanged words or what not," Reed said. "Like, ‘Who gonna clean it up?’ And, ‘I’m not cleaning it up.’"
The witness said he asked Ms. Hines, Ms. Scott, and Taylor to leave, but they wouldn’t.
"I wanted to leave cause I wanted to diffuse the situation," Reed said. "I thought it would make the situation better, but it didn’t."
The witness said he heard four gunshots while he was walking to his other cousin’s house, Jeremy Cotton, who also lived on Pinewood Drive.
"I didn’t think nothing about it. Just kept going. It was Labor Day," Reed said.
However, the witness then told prosecutor Williams that when he got inside, he was worried something terrible had happened to Ms. Hines and Taylor and was crying.
Reed said he went to sleep at Cotton’s house and didn’t find out what had happened till his father called him. When Reed returned to the scene of the crime, he was arrested.
The witness told defense attorney Steven Brown that on the night before the shooting he attempted to have sex with Ms. Hines on the living room sofa, but she pushed him away. After his arrest, Reed informed police his DNA "would be found inside of her."
Reed also said he knew Ms. Hines at the time her father Michael was killed, about six months prior to the Labor Day shooting, but he didn’t know that Ms. Hines had witnessed her father’s homicide.
Defense attorney Brown asked whether or not Reed possessed any firearms. The witness said he did not. When presented with photos of himself with guns, Reed explained that these were BB guns.
Investigator Greg Mardis of the Chattanooga Police Department told the court he was present at the crime scene to collect evidence. He identified photographs of vomit on the bathroom sink, a small bag of marijuana, blood stains both inside and outside the Pinewood Drive house, and several different calibers of live ammunition and shell casings.
The witness said shell casings collected in the den near the bodies of Ms. Hines and Mr. Taylor were all 9 mm, though from multiple brands. Two projectiles were later discovered by the homeowner of the Pinewood Drive residence after removing the den carpet.
Defense attorney Brown asked the investigator if a bag of pills was located on any of the victims, but the witness did not recall. Investigator Mardis agreed, however, that the word "deplorable" could be used to describe the condition of the house.
When shown photographs of tire marks in the yard of 7458 Pinewood Dr., the investigator said some of them appeared to depict acceleration. He said the only marijuana found at the scene was in a bag outside near these marks.
A pistol was also located behind furniture in the house, which the witness said was loaded with live ammunition and the hammer pulled back. He also said it was covered in a "heavy coating of dust."