CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A jury found a man guilty Monday on all charges for robbing and shooting a couple three years ago outside of the Bistro La Bon restaurant on Central Avenue near Pecan Avenue.
Last week, both Joanne and Bruce Parker took the witness stand to testify against Jamall Glenn, the man prosecutors said robbed and tried to kill them.
Glenn was convicted on nearly a dozen charges, including attempted murder. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
(Glenn)
“What began as a fun night for Bruce and Joanne ended with both of them shot,” prosecutor Kyle Payne said Monday.
Closing arguments were made Monday and the case went to the jury.
The Parkers were having dinner at about 11 p.m. on Dec. 17, 2016, and were leaving the restaurant to go to their truck when a car pulled up.
The driver got out and told Bruce Parker to not resist.
“I put my hands up and said, ‘Here, take what you want,’” Bruce Parker said as Glenn sat about 25 feet away in the courtroom. “He then knocked me to the ground. I got shot. I start feeling it. I start feeling it."
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"And I looked up and it was a very large black male holding a gun, and then I felt a burning sensation," Joanne Parker said. "I remember falling down to my hands and knees, and my eyes never opened up again."
Joanne Parker said they crawled to each other and began to pray together.
"I knew I was going to die," Joanne Parker said. "I thought of my husband. I thought of my children. And I just thought, I didn't want my children knowing that their mother died like this -- on the cold pavement."
“We just prayed that we would be found and not have to leave our kids without parents,” the husband testified.
Joanne Parker said she never saw faces that night that were clear to her, only the figure of the man who had shot her.
Payne showed the judge and jury surveillance video Monday from that night.
“That's the defendant, no doubt about it,” Payne said. “That's the defendant."
A gun was also presented by the prosecution.
“This gun was in the defendant's car,” Payne said.
Payne told the jury that Glenn was guilty.
“When you focus on the facts of this case, there's only one conclusion and that's that the defendant is guilty,” Payne said.
Glenn's attorney, James Exum, showed Joanne Parker a photo lineup of possible suspects that a detective had showed her days after the shooting. He asked her "Is it fair to say you did not identify anyone?"
Joanne Parker said yes.
The state has to prove that Glenn was the shooter and they haven't, Glenn’s attorney said Monday.
“What witness did the state produce that told you that Jamall Glenn was the perpetrator of this crime? What witness?” Exum said.
Exum said no one, not even the Parkers or police, identified Glenn as the attacker.
“You can't get around that,” Exum told the jury. “You can't talk around it, but you can't prove around it.”
On Wednesday, Exum raised questions about Bruce Parker's accountability.
During his testimony, Bruce Parker never said that Glenn was the man who robbed and shot him.
Exum pointed out that three days after the shooting Bruce Parker identified someone else as the attacker in a police lineup.
When Bruce Parker finally did tell the prosecutor that Glenn was the shooter, Exum fired back.
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"At no point did you say, 'Well Mr. Exum, I now know who it is, it's your client who's been charged with this for two or so years.' You never said that did you?" Exum said.
Bruce Parker responded that Exum never asked him if Glenn was the shooter.
Next, the jury heard from the two off-duty police who happened to be driving by when the shooting happened.
One stayed with the victims and the other chased the vehicle, which ended up crashing near Novant Presbyterian.
They both said Bruce Parker pointed to the man who shot him getting into a car that sped away, but neither officer could say the man they saw was in fact, Glenn.
Officers also identified Antonio Worthy and Ebonee Ward as suspects in the case.
Ward pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and Worthy still has not gone to trial.
Check back with wsoctv.com for updates on the trial.