Jurors who must determine the fate of a 22-year-old Mississippi man accused of taking the life of an Odessa mother of four heard opening statements Monday along with the testimony of a forensic pathologist and her best friend .
Assistant Ector County District Attorney Elizabeth Howard told jurors gathered in the 70th Ector County District Court Erika Peña’s death was a tragedy that should never have happened.
The evidence will show Shemar Harrington was actually trying to kill LaPaul Scaggs, a friend of Peña’s boyfriend, in the early morning hours of May 29, 2022, Howard said. Instead, Harrington ended up killing Peña, 31, and wounding Scaggs during a gathering outside the Southwest Oaks Apartments on Oakwood Drive, Howard said.
Harrington, who fled the scene and was found at a nearby apartment, was identified as the shooter by several witnesses and his DNA was found on a gun hidden in the apartment, Howard said.
Scaggs suffered a non-life threatening bullet wound to the arm and was found hiding in a nearby apartment, Howard said. He has not been cooperative with law enforcement officers and was arrested that night on an unrelated warrant, she said.
Harrington is facing one count of murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Defense attorney Phillip Wildman told jurors Peña lost her life over a “very, very stupid thing.”
On the morning of the shooting, Scaggs became upset he was being recorded and a fight broke out during which Scaggs pointed at gun at his client, Wildman said.
Instead of pulling his own gun, Wildman said Harrington defused the situation. However, as everyone was leaving, Scaggs “sucker-punched” Harrington.
Wildman urged the jurors to pay close attention to all of the details before making any judgments.
Dr. Luisa Florez with Texas Panhandle Forensics told jurors the bullet that killed Peña entered her left side, traveled through her spleen, stomach, liver and diaphragm and exited her right side.
Peña’s best friend of 11 years, Angelique Vasquez, described her as a very giving woman who “cooked big” and often entertained at her home, including for friends of her boyfriend, Duran Nichols.
She knew Nichols and Harrington to be friends and had seen Harrington at Peña’s house on a few occasions, she said. Both men were from Mississippi, she said.
On the morning of Peña’s death, Vasquez said she came home from the movies around 1:15 a.m. and saw a large and loud gathering in the building next to the building where she and Peña both lived.
As the crowd parted, Vasquez said she saw someone on the ground. She called Peña’s phone and Peña’s oldest child, 13-year-old Michael, answered the phone and said his mother was outside.
She immediately ran to the group and saw then that it was Peña.
“I just started screaming. I was screaming ‘How could this happen? How did you let it happen?’” she said.
After locking eyes with Peña, she realized Michael was fast approaching and knowing Peña wouldn’t want him to see her like that, Vasquez said she tried to take him home.
When she got back, paramedics were fighting in vain to save Peña’s life.
The trial is expected to continue at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Judge Denn Whalen is presiding.
