Kendall Berry murder suspect set to stand trial

Philippe Buteau / Staff Writer

philippe.buteau@fiusm.com

A pretrial motion will not decide whether Quentin Wyche acted in reasonable self-defense when he killed Kendall Berry, but a jury trial instead.

Wyche’s defense attorneys, led by David Peckins, were trying to get the case dismissed on the basis Wyche was defending himself. However, after reviewing sworn witness testimonies, Judge Milton Hirsch denied Wyche’s motion thus sending his case to a trial, the date for which has yet to be determined as of this report.

Berry’s parents Derrick and Mellisscia Spillman were not available for comment as of press time.

Included in the judge’s order are sworn witness statements that were given to police.

The statements varied in specifics, such as who started the fight, but they all agree there was a fight. According to the judge’s order, both of the former students had their friends with them on the night of March 25, 2010 in front of the Recreation Center at the Modesto Maidique Campus.

The order also says supporters from both sides – Berry and Wyche’s – got into fights with each other.

“In short order, chaos reigned,” Hirsch wrote in his order. “[That chaos] rendered testimony vague, incomplete, and contradictory.”

Junior wide receiver for the Golden Panthers Antwoine Bell, then a freshman, said in a statement to police that he saw someone other than Berry hit Wyche.  In response to this attack from an “unidentified assailant,” Wyche “took off running.”

Bell told police he saw Berry run after Wyche, but by the time he caught up to the two men, Berry was on the ground bleeding.

Bell said he did not see if Berry use “great force against Wyche” to justify the “use of force likely to cause death or serious bodily injury.

But James Jones, a senior defensive linemen, then a sophomore, said both Wyche and Berry were equally “ready to fight.”

He said the two men fought, Wyche took off running, Berry chased and caught up to Wyche and they would have continued fighting had their friends not arrived.

Alex Legions version of the story suggests a different persona for Wyche.

Wyche, Legion said in his statement, was “laughing and smiling“ when he ran from Berry. However, there were too many people for Legion to see exactly what happened.

Colt Anderson, redshirt senior tight end, then a sophomore, said Wyche was the aggressor throughout the entire confrontation.

The defense’s theory of the case, according to the judge, is that Wyche attempted to get away from the fight before it became physical and Berry, along with others, chased him. Wyche found himself in the position where running was no longer possible and did what he had to do to save his own life.

Wyche’s defense attorneys are using former Gov. Jeb Bush’s “Stand Your Ground Law,” which passed in 2005, as the basis of their self-defense argument.

“He just happened to thrust himself against the scissor that the defendant had taken out apparently from his book bag when he was being chased down by this football team,” Peckins said to CBS Miami after Wyche’s Jan. 23 hearing.

The prosecution’s theory is that Wyche ran from where the fight took place, got a hold of the most readily-available deadly weapon, either returned to the area or laid in wait and stabbed Berry in the heart.

“This is someone who brought a knife to a fist fight, and someone is dead because of it,” prosecutor Abbe Rifkin said to CBS Miami.

Hirsch was not able to come to a conclusion in his ruling because the presented records did not give him enough information to dismiss the case due to Wyche standing his ground.

“Because I can draw no conclusion, this motion must fail,” Hirsch wrote. “The defendant has met his burden of proof.”