Global Courant 2023-04-13 22:47:19
Two Iowa teens charged in a Des Moines school shooting will be tried separately so one of the teens can testify in defense of the other.
A judge this week ruled that the trials of Preston Walls, 18, and Bravon Tukes, 19, should be separated so that Walls could be called to testify by Tukes’ lawyers.
Both teens are charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and participation in criminal gangs in the shooting deaths of students Gionni Dameron, 18, and Rashad Carr, 16, on Jan. 23 at an alternative school for at-risk students called Starts Right Here.
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Walls is accused of shooting both students and wounding Will Keeps, who founded the school. Walls then left the school in a car driven by Tukes.
Bravon Michael Tukes, left, and Preston Walls are shown in an image of Polk County Jail in Iowa. The two teens have been charged with a shooting at an alternative school in Des Moines. They will be tried separately so that one of the teens can testify on behalf of the other, a judge ruled on April 10, 2023. (Polk County Jail via AP, file)
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Tukes’ lawyers attempted to separate the processes at an earlier hearing. They noted that Walls has said Tukes was not involved in the shooting. Tukes’ lawyers want Walls to testify in Tukes’ defense and asked for separate trials to allow for such testimony.
The judge agreed to separate the trials but denied a request to postpone Walls’ trial, which begins May 1. A trial date for Tukes has not been scheduled.
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The Starts Right Here program reopened in February with additional security. Keeps, an activist and rapper whose first name is Will Holmes, is back at work at the school, recovering from gunshot wounds to his hip and right hand.
