Accused killer of Southern High grad seeks lower bail. Was she also a victim?

Alexis Joyner was 13 when her best friend was gunned down, her attorney said.

She was also shot at during two other incidents as a teenager. One occurred when she was 16 and one when she was 17, and she believed Edward Young was involved in both, her defense attorney Christine Malumphy said during a Wednesday court hearing.

“That exposure has compounded her trauma,” Malumphy said. “It goes a long way to explain why she was carrying a gun and why she had some unsavory connections.”

On the night of Feb. 26, 2017, Joyner, then 19, ran into Young at the Red Roof Inn in Chapel Hill, Malumphy said, and she reached for her gun — not to kill him, but because she was scared of him.

“And the gun goes off,” Malumphy said.

The defense attorney outlined the scenario in Durham County court as she argued the circumstances don’t justify Joyner’s first-degree murder charge. She also asked that the $1.5 million bail set for her client, who’s been in jail over two years, be reduced and unsecured.

Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn, however, presented a different scenario.

She argued that Joyner was a dangerous gang member who had previously tried to kill Young, 21, who died on the way to the hospital after being shot in the stomach at the motel.

At the hospital, police asked Young’s family who could have done the shooting, Montgomery-Blinn said.

“They said Alexis Joyner because she had shot at his house three or four days prior to the murder,” the prosecutor said.

Red Roof Inn

The Saturday night before the early Sunday morning fatal shooting, Joyner and friends celebrated someone’s birthday and decided to get a motel room and continue the party, Malumphy said.

They went to a Red Roof Inn near downtown Durham, but it was full, she said. They went to another Red Roof Inn on Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard in a part of Chapel Hill that is in Durham County.

Joyner, who had been drinking, stayed in the car as her friends checked in. When she saw them walking toward a room, she got out and jogged ahead of them, which is when she saw Young and pulled out the gun, Malumphy said.

Young, who was twice her size, went to grab the gun and it went off, Malumphy said, adding that a medical examiner’s statement supports that scenario.

Montgomery-Blinn argued that Joyner saw Young, jumped out of the car, ran toward him and shot him.

“That is premeditation, deliberation and first-degree murder,” she said.

There are no police reports or other evidence other than Joyner’s “self-serving statement” that Young had done anything prior to the shooting, the prosecutor said.

Malumphy said she has found evidence supporting Joyner’s contentions, but didn’t give details.

‘Watching flowers grow’

Young graduated from Southern High School, where he played in the band. His senior year, Young participated in an agribusiness program that introduced him to planting and landscaping.

In 2015, teachers described how Young, once a notorious kid in the building, had become a leader through the program, The News & Observer reported.

“I kind of found out what I like to do,” he told newspaper. “I could see myself doing that and watching flowers grow.”

Around 1 a.m. Feb. 26, 2017, Young was at the motel with his girlfriend and they had a pizza, Montgomery-Blinn said.

He was getting a soda from the vending machine when he ran into Joyner, the prosecutor said.

After Young was shot, he went back up to his room, leaving a trail of blood. He died on the way to the hospital.

Joyner ran back to her friend’s car, but they soon told her to get out and called police.

Arrested in Charlotte

Three days later, Joyner was arrested in Charlotte by U.S. Marshals after a car and a foot chase, The News & Observer reported.

She initially told police she had thrown the gun in Jordan Lake, but later confirmed she had traded it for another gun, Montgomery-Blinn said.

Joyner is a danger to the community who is connected to a network that could help her escape and obtain guns, the prosecutor said,

Malumphy pointed to pictures of Young with guns found on his phone, and the fact that a family member was wearing a T-shirt with his gang name on it, which she said was “turn key Kush.” Kush is a strain of marijuana.

Young’s mother, Brenda, also asked the judge not to change Joyner’s bail.

“She is going to be a big threat to us and everybody in the streets because she is not going to change,” she said.

Superior Court Judge Josephine Kerr Davis declined to reduce the bail.

This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 7:08 PM.