Defense argues suspect didn't shoot Lyric Woods

Defense attorney Jonathan Trapp gives an opening statement to the jury in the double murder trial of Issiah Ross.
Posted 1/14/2026, 5:30:00 PM Updated 1/14/2026, 6:00:10 PM

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury

You've been asked to sit and listen to these facts

And you're gonna hear a lot

But what we asked for to say tonight that was

all

All the testimony and all the evidence

Now the evidence is gonna show

And on September 16th there was communication between them

There was also communication between them

In Mr

And there was a statement put out

Hey does anybody have a car Along the lines of

got wheels I got bus

And so the idea and the plan wasn't just to

hang out

The idea was to get out of the house and

have sex

And so these individuals they get together

And Mr

Ross

Like a teenager

Decided to take his mom's former definition

And pick up Mr

Mr

Ross doesn't even know his sports

Mr

Clark is showing Mr

Ross where to go

He says hey go here when you get to this

location turn your headlights off

They get to the location

I pick up there

And then then says hey drive this way drive that

And one thing that Is that after all this happened

Uh a firearm that belonged to Denton's father went missing

And so the evidence is going to show that that

firearm was what was used that

The evidence is going to show that all the shell

casings came from the same gun

When law enforcement went to Devin's father's house and they

looked at the box that had the gun missing

Same color same type of English

Now here's where the stories diverge

Who was it That shot here

What That shot dead

There was no gunshot residue found on either one

There's going to be statements made and evidence that shows

that

There was an argument

That like

And that And the person who shot

It's not his cross

It's clock

From that moment on the gun that Devin brought on

the scene was carried on Mr

Ross

It was Ross

Tough decision to save his own life

Hopefully after hearing this evidence and seeing the evidence of

the statement show you'll see that the idea of Mr

Ross's life

Put in danger put in a position to get

Yes I have to be the challenge

In this area on the river

Mr

Ross

Scare A very anxious position leaves the scene

As he's leaving he realizes the car hit from his

mother had no gas

He could not even get home

He goes to get gas sees that he still has

Devin's phone Devin's bag and his firearm that Devin just

tried to kill him

Bring it out still probably out on buck

Yeah we're good

When he gets home One that he's at the gas

station

He's still freaking out

He actually hits one of the medians at the gas

station trying to turn in to get to the park

When he wakes up the next morning or when he

gets home the next morning his mother sees that her

car is damaged and she goes crazy so upset

She says you know what you're getting out of my

house

You're going to stay with your father in Delaware

You can't live here anymore

So she calls one of her friends and says he

cannot stay in my house anymore

Make sure he gets a bus ticket or a plane

ticket to go see this

And so the very next day he goes to stay

with his family

For law enforcement

some days

There will be a lot of ways

A lot of fat

A lot of issues

There will be a witness or the state's evidence will

show that people on Buckhorn because there's several houses on

that road heard gunshots

And they heard gunshots in two separate intervals

Bang bang bang bang bang and then there's a pause

about a minute or two

And then bang bang bang bang bang

The way the state lays this out is that the

person who had this gun just started shooting at

But there was a break

That break occurred when the gun was then turned over

I believe I hear all this evidence

Looking at the state's witnesses as well as the defenses

that you would see

Mr

Ross