Jeremy Jalamar “Bubba” Rivers, 22, will be formally sentenced in about two months by Circuit Judge Bo Hollingsworth.
The case Rivers pleaded guilty in stemmed from an incident in front of a house at the corner of Jemison Street and 19th Street in Talladega between 7:30 and 7:55 p.m. on June 29, 2009. Rivers shot his victim, Javarus Deshawn Embry, 26, once in the head with a handgun.
Embry was transported to the emergency room of Citizens Baptist Medical Center to be stabilized and was then airlifted to University Hospital in Birmingham.
Rivers is currently in jail for unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, particularly crack cocaine, in an unrelated case.
Also in court this week, a jury of 12 men and one woman was selected to hear an assault in the first degree case stemming from another non-fatal shooting.
Bonny Eugene Corder, 32, is accused of shooting Johnny Lee Thomas twice, once through the jaw and once through the upper chest and shoulder, following a July 6 altercation on Coleman Road in the Odena area outside of Sylacauga.
Corder and defense attorney Rod Giddens argue the defendant was in fear of his life and was acting in self-defense.
When interviewed by Talladega County Sheriff’s investigators, Corder gave a statement explaining that he had gotten into a fight, which Thomas instigated. The victim eventually threw him off a front porch into shrubbery, jumped on Corder, then threw him onto a concrete service. Corder, his girlfriend and another man were leaving when the man said he heard the victim saying something, and Corder backed up the car. When he saw the victim coming up the driveway, he fired twice, according to the statement.
When testifying on his own behalf Wednesday, Corder said he was “dazed and confused” when he gave his initial statement. He strongly backed away from the statement he made, saying none of this would have happened if he’d just gone home, arguing from the stand that the incident was inevitable.
He also insisted he almost always carried a gun with him, a statement that was contradicted by testimony from his 11-year-old stepson (called by the defense) and his girlfriend (called as a rebuttal witness by the state).
Both sides rested their cases Wednesday. The jury will return at 1 p.m. today to hear Hollingsworth’s instructions and to begin their deliberations.
Conviction for assault in the first degree with a firearm carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.
Contact Chris Norwood at cnorwood@dailyhome.com
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