On the afternoon of what was originally a co-defendant trial, Jacob Sponaugle, facing multiple felony counts, found himself sitting with only his attorney at the defense table as the man he is accused of shooting told the jury of how a gun deal went bad outside the Days Inn in Batavia on July 22, 2020.
Jason Whitehead's testimony corroborated the earlier testimony of Crystal Shultz, Sponaugle's ex-girlfriend, and put the .32 caliber handgun in Sponaugle's hand with Sponaugle pulling the trigger.
Sponaugle is charged with attempted murder, assault, 1st; criminal use of a firearm; aggravated criminal possession of a weapon, 2nd; criminal possession of a weapon, 2nd; and criminal sale of a firearm, 3rd.
After today's lunch break, District Attorney Lawrence Friedman informed County Court Judge Charles Zambito that Sponaugle's co-defendant, Devon Wright, had agreed to accept a plea offer that would limit his prison term to 10 years and allow him to be released under the supervision of Genesee Justice while awaiting sentencing, presumably so he can be present for the birth of his first child, who is expected to arrive any day.
Wright entered a guilty plea of attempted criminal possession of a weapon, the top charge stemming from the July 22 incident, first-degree attempted assault, a Class C violent felony, and criminal sexual act in the second degree, a Class D violent felony.
Whitehead was first asked to describe a series of text messages he said he received from Sponaugle on the evening of the shooting. Sponaugle wanted to know if Whitehead was interested in buying a handgun from him. He sent pictures and video telling Whitehead the gun had been owned by "an old dude" and that it was a "clean gun."
Sponaugle wanted $400 for the gun. Whitehead offered $300. Sponaugle said $350 was the lowest he could go.
Whitehead testified that he decided he could pay the $350 if he could sell it to his "main man" (identified as Wright) for $450.
So Whitehead set up a meeting with Wright at the Days Inn and Sponaugle picked up Whitehead at his residence on Shady Lane.
Schultz was with the two men when they drove to the hotel.
Once there, an argument broke out between Sponaugle and Wright over the asking price of the gun, Whitehead said. At that point, he said he stopped talking and let the two men hash it out.
Eventually, Sponaugle walked away. As he did, Whitehead testified, Sponaugle turned around, said, "this is all your fault" and shot him.
Whitehead testified that the bullet from the .32 caliber gun remains lodged in his spine. It would do more harm than good, he said doctors told him. As a result, he is daily in pain and can't lay on his back when he wants to sleep.
Under questioning from defense attorney Joseph Lobosco, Whitehead admitted to prior heroin and cocaine use but said his use didn't alter his mental state but instead prevented him from getting sick. He said he's been clean for a year.
Before Whitehead took the stand in the afternoon, Schultz completed her testimony, which primarily consisted of cross-examination by Lobosco, who pressed Schultz on differing versions of events in two depositions she gave to detectives with Batavia PD.
In the first one, she said she didn't know what happened with the gun and in the second, she described in detail Sponaugle's alleged attempt to get rid of the weapon.
The differences could be explained, she said, because before Sponaugle was arrested she was afraid of him. Once he was in custody, she said, she didn't fear him and so gave detectives a full accounting of what happened with the gun (it was, she said in the morning, put in a can of paint and given to another person).
After Whitehead's testimony, Kevin Wolff, a supervisor at the Genesee County Jail took the stand to authenticate four recordings made at the jail -- all calls are recorded and all inmates are told they are recorded, Wolff said -- between Sponaugle and Schultz, Sponaugle and his mother, Sponaugle and an acquaintance, and Sponaugle and his sister.
The calls contain incriminating statements by Sponaugle, most notably in the call with Schultz in which she tells Sponaugle that "I had to tell them everything."
Sponaugle clearly did not like hearing that and questioned Schultz on why she would do that to him.
"You let them scare you into writing a statement," Sponaugle is heard saying on the call.
He told her she didn't see anything (earlier she testified she did see the actual shooting).
"What you did was totally unnecessary," Sponaugle said. "It's going to be bad for me."
This is Friedman's final trial at the end of a 40-year prosecutorial career and, at the start of the trial at least, the first with two co-defendants.
Testimony resumes at 9 a.m., Wednesday morning.
