A man charged with first-degree murder was heavily medicated and confused when he gave incriminating statements to police, his mother testified yesterday in Forsyth Superior Court.
Johnetta Roberts told the jury that her son slept most of the time while he was recovering from gunshot wounds and had trouble remembering things.
"He didn't even know about getting up and going to the bathroom," Roberts said.
Her son, Terrell Cornelius, 27, is accused of killing Leon Conrad, 29, in a burglary gone wrong early on the morning of Nov. 9, 2007. Prosecutors say that Cornelius broke into Conrad's house along with two other men and that Cornelius was wounded during a shootout with Conrad.
Police interviewed Cornelius at the hospital on Nov. 9 and then again on Nov. 12, Detective Mike Poe testified yesterday.
Poe said that Cornelius appeared alert each time that he and other detectives interviewed him, though Cornelius did struggle to breathe at times and sometimes gave short answers.
In recorded statements to police, Cornelius initially said that he was shot and wounded when a man robbed him at an apartment complex.
But later, Cornelius told police that he and two other men -- Rodney Fraley and Daniel Cordray -- broke into Conrad's house looking for $50,000. Fraley had told the two other men earlier that Conrad had the money in a truck, but when they couldn't get into the truck, they broke into the house, according to the statements.
Cornelius kicked in the door and Conrad came around a corner and started firing a gun, the statements said. Cordray and Cornelius fired back, and Cornelius was shot.
The three men left and went to the home of Charles Rousseau on Spring Street. Rousseau testified last week that he told the men to take Cornelius to the hospital and that he later hid a gun in the bushes near his home.
Investigators matched the gun to bullets taken from Conrad's body.
Roberts testified that her son was drowsy and groggy and slept for long periods while he was at the hospital.
Cornelius was also confused about who had visited him, Roberts said. He thought that his brother and cousins had visited him on Nov. 9, but his brother never did come to the hospital and his cousins visited him a few days later, Roberts testified.
Cornelius was tried last year on first-degree murder and first-degree burglary charges in Conrad's death. He was convicted on the burglary charge, but the jury couldn't reach a verdict on the murder charge. Sentencing on the burglary conviction was postponed until prosecutors could retry the murder case.
mhewlett@wsjournal.com
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