The mother of a man killed and dismembered over an alleged drug debt was the first prosecution witness called to the stand Monday in the death penalty trial of a man charged with murder.
Prosecutors called Jean Davis to testify in their case against Michael LeJeune, 27, who is charged in the Dec. 17, 1997, killing and beheading of 39-year-old Ronnie Davis over a $250 drug debt.
Prosecutors allege LeJeune and then-girlfriend Rekah "Kelly" Anand stuffed Davis' headless body in the car trunk and set the car on fire in a cemetery. Later, LeJeune took Davis' head to a lake house on Lake Lanier and put it in a vise to try to remove the bullet, prosecutors allege.
Jean Davis testified yesterday in Fulton County Superior Court that the last time she talked to Ronnie Davis he called her in North Carolina to ask for money to retrieve his impounded car. She testified that her son had told her he had had the worst Christmas of his life.
Assistant District Attorney Clint Rucker says LeJeune's former girlfriend will testify that she told LeJeune he needed a saw to carve up Davis' body and LeJeune followed her advice.
LeJeune's lawyer, Brian Steel, says the real killer is the informant who pointed police to LeJeune.
LeJeune and Anand were arrested in January 1998.
After Anand agreed to testify against LeJeune, murder and aggravated assault charges against her were dismissed.
LeJeune was first brought in front of a jury in March, but a mistrial was declared because of the courthouse shootings, which had distressed some jurors.