Columbus jury set to determine fate of man charged with 2018 double murder

Police believe the gunman who killed a Columbus father and his 3-year-old son on a freezing-cold night in 2018 fired one last shot to ensure the father was dead.

That shot through Joseph “Jo Jo” Banks’ head went into the ground beneath him, as he and son Jacaiden Banks lay on either side of a driveway outside a vacant Stuart Drive house, where passersby found the bodies hours later, at 8:37 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2018.

The child also was shot through the head, just once, the bullet passing through his brain and exiting, a medical examiner testified Thursday in the double-murder trial of Antonio Bernard “Tony” Willis.

Dr. Stacey Desamours detailed her autopsy of the two bodies, testifying that the father, 41, was hit seven times, with one shot fired at close range passing through his right eye and exiting the back of his head. Another shot went through his head just in front of his right ear, and a third grazed his brain without piercing the skull, she said.

The father also had bullet wounds through his left, upper back; left arm at the elbow; and left wrist, she said.

When investigators removed the bodies, they found a hole in the dirt under the father’s head, they said: Digging down, they recovered a bullet, evidence they believe showed the killer fired a final shot while the father was on the ground.

What police did not find at the crime scene at 6 Stuart Drive in the Benning Hills area was the Ford F-150 pickup truck Banks had borrowed from a friend earlier that night at the Colony Inn, 4300 Victory Drive, where witnesses saw him leave with Willis and the little boy.

Police later found that truck shot up and abandoned behind a vacant house at 1032 Henry Ave., where they recovered more bullets and shell casings. In court Thursday, Georgia Bureau of Investigation firearms expert Catherine Jordan testified her examination showed those came from the same gun, likely a Taurus or Ruger brand 9-millimeter.

Detectives have said Willis tried to sell a Ruger handgun, before he caught a shuttle to Atlanta shortly after the homicides, but they have not recovered the gun, nor any fingerprints, DNA or other physical evidence placing Willis at the shooting scene.

Prosecutors this week have built a largely circumstantial case against Willis, emphasizing that he’s the last person seen with the victims; that he has given conflicting accounts of what happened after they left the motel; that he had connections to the neighborhood where the truck was abandoned; and that he had a motive to rob Banks.

Willis told police that Banks gave him $5 and dropped him off on Victory Drive, and from there he made his way to the Groome Transportation shuttle station at 2800 Harley Court, 13 miles away. He at one point told detectives he walked, and at another said he caught a ride.

Surveillance video showed he got to Groome about 4:30 a.m., to catch a 4:45 shuttle to Atlanta, where his girlfriend had moved.

He denied changing clothes along the way, but he was not wearing the same outfit at Groome that he was wearing at the Colony Inn, where he also was recorded on security cameras. After reaching Atlanta, he remained on the run for about five months before U.S. Marshals captured him.

After his arrest in May 2019, he told police he was familiar with the house on Henry Avenue, where the truck was found, because an uncle once used it as a “party house.” The house in the east Wynnton area is just blocks from a home on Hood Street where his cousins lived, investigators said. Police said witnesses told them Willis showed up there that night, desperate to get a ride to Groome, so he could leave town quickly.

Assistant District Attorney Robin Anthony has told jurors Willis at the time was a “desperate man” who had no home or income, and lured Banks to Stuart Drive to rob him. Witnesses who had rented neighboring rooms at the Colony Inn testified they heard Willis trying to persuade Banks to go with him to Stuart Drive to “make a hit,” meaning to commit a robbery or other crime.

Jurors on Wednesday were shown recordings of Detective Robert Nicholas questioning Willis at police headquarters in May 2019. Willis talked about being addicted to cocaine, and told Nicholas he had a heart condition that precluded any strenuous exercise, yet he still claimed to have walked to Groome, where video showed he arrived wearing “slides” or slipper-like footwear.

He had been wearing high-top tennis shoes when he left the Colony Inn, videos showed.

Nicholas testified the weather overnight was so cold that “some of the blood from the wounds of the victims was still frozen solid” the next day.

Willis’ last police interview on May 20, 2019 ended with his telling Nicholas, “I saw E.J. do it.” He afterward asked for an attorney, so Nicholas stopped questioning him.

The trial attorneys finished presenting evidence to the jury Thursday afternoon. They’re to make closing arguments Friday morning.

Willis faces two counts of murder and one count each of aggravated assault and attempting to commit a felony. He faces life in prison if convicted. He is 42 years old.