Three men who were at the Seminary Street Pub last April 1st when a woman was shot and killed testified Friday morning in the trial of the man accused of the murder.
Leonard McGee was first, an associate of 29-year-old Jonathan Kelly’s, who says he picked up an out of breath Kelly and drove him to a Davenport Motel 6, where he left the defendant with a phone and paid for the room in cash.
McGee says he’s known Kelly for about 2 years.
McGee admitted to initially lying to investigators about seeing Kelly shoot but had a different story in his testimony.
Assistant State’s Attorney said in questioning McGee, “You said he was running and shooting correct?”
“Correct,” McGee says.
“And when he’s running and shooting, he was shooting towards the crowds?”
“Right”
“And what did you see when he’s running and shooting?”
“I just seen a body fall” Mcgee says.
McGee also says he never saw a gun on Kelly other than when it was being fired.
The gun that killed McGruder has not been recovered.
Also testifying was Douglas Bailey who says he was 20 feet or so away from a white van that pulled up, when he saw “Jon Jon get out and shoot”. “Jon Jon” is the name several witnesses have known Jonathan Kelly by.
McGee and Bailey both stated they were confident they only heard three shots, which damages one of the defense’s theories that there were was more than one shooter.
Gregory Bridges testified that he saw a man he ID’d as Kelly pull up in a white van and start firing a handgun. Bridges thought there could have been 5 or 6 shots.
Also testifying Friday morning were Galesburg Police Detective Kevin Legate and Kurt Dykstra with Illinois State Police CSI.
A pair of expert forensic witnesses testified including a latent fingerprint expert who says no prints were found on the shell casings found at the scene, but those shells to turn up prints.
The jury was also shown roughly 40 minutes of unedited surveillance video from the Daveport Motel 6 that Kelly was said to have stayed at after fleeing Galesburg.
Kelly is charged with First Degree Murder, Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm, and Possession of a Firearm by a Felon for the death of 26-year-old Jenni McGruder.
(Media pool photo by Steve Davis, The Register-Mail)
