Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 13, 1995 TAG: 9506150020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Tamika Jones on Monday identified Christopher C. Goins as the man who shot and killed five members of her family in a rampage prosecutors say was sparked by his anger that she was carrying his child.
Goins, 21, pleaded innocent to one count of capital murder, four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and related weapons charges on the first day of his trial.
Tamika, then 14, was shot at least six times in the Oct. 14 attack at the family's apartment. She and her then-20-month-old sister Kenya were the only survivors. Tamika said she shielded her sister and then played dead.
The fetus died from bullet wounds to Jones, according to a medical examiner.
Commonwealth's Attorney David M. Hicks, who shielded Tamika Jones from Goins' view during most of her 45-minute testimony, stepped aside twice to allow her to identify Goins as the man who killed her family in a matter of minutes.
``They were fast,'' she said of the gunshots. ``They kept going and then I heard my little brother crying. Then I heard my mother scream, more shots and my brother wasn't crying anymore.''
The defendant sat with his hands in his lap and eyes fixed on the floor, showing no emotion. His only visible reaction was a startled flinch when Hicks banged on the jury box during his opening statement to simulate loud and rapid gunfire.
Court-appointed defense attorney Robert Johnson told the jury to pay attention to facts that someone other than Goins had a motive for the killings.
Tamika Jones' parents, Daphne Jones, 29, and James Nathaniel Randolph Jr., 34, were killed, as were her siblings: Nicole, 9, David, 4, and Robert, 3.
Each victim was shot at least once in the head at close range.
The prosecution offered graphic pictures of each bullet wound. The jury showed little reaction to the pictures, but one photograph drew gasps from the packed courtroom, and a woman had to be helped from the room when she began sobbing uncontrollably.
Parrish Davis, a cab driver who identified Goins as a frequent fare, testified that Goins spoke of wanting to do away with the family of his pregnant girlfriend before the murders, then called him afterward and asked Davis to help him get out of town.
Goins and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Monique Littlejohn, were arrested in New York City on Nov. 17 after a nationwide manhunt. They both fought extradition from New York, but were returned to Richmond in February.
Jury selection in Littlejohn's trial on 14 counts of being an accessory before the fact also began Monday, just down the hall from Goins' trial.
The nine-man, six-woman jury for the Goins trial is being bused in daily from Gloucester County because of intense pretrial publicity in Richmond.
Circuit Judge Thomas N. Nance has set aside a week for the trial.
by CNB