Centennial – A man accused in a shooting death at Lowry Park in Aurora two years ago sent a coded letter from jail last week to another of the suspects outlining his strategy for taking the stand.
Robert Ray, accused of first-degree murder in the death of Gregory Vann on July 4, 2004, sent the letter from the Arapahoe County Jail to friend Sir Mario Owens, who also is in jail.
In the letter, which authorities confiscated and were able to decipher, Ray tried to tell Owens that he was pleading self defense of others.
“I am going to have to say that you told me they was jumping you and I had to get them off of you,” Ray said in the letter read out loud by prosecutor John Hower in Arapahoe County District Court. “You never told me you shot somebody so you don’t have to worry about me saying that.”
In the letter, which had a return address of another inmate, Ray goes on to say: “Remember it was all self defense. Your lawyers will tell you everything.”
Ray took the stand for the first time Tuesday, as the only witness in his defense. He said he wrote the letter because he wanted Owens to know that he wasn’t snitching on him and because he said media reports about the shooting have not been accurate and Owens might get the wrong idea.
Owens is accused of firing once into Vann’s chest, killing him. But both Owens and Ray have been charged with first-degree murder, among other charges, because Ray was complicit in the shooting.
Ray, Owens and another man are also facing murder charges in the killing of Javad Marshall-Fields, who was killed June 20, 2005, a week before he was to testify in Ray’s trial in the Lowry Park shooting. Marshall-Fields also was wounded in the 2004 Lowry Park shooting.
Marshall-Fields’ fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, was with him and also was killed when he was fatally shot in 2005.
On the stand, Ray admitted shooting and wounding Vann’s brother, Elvin Bell, because he thought Bell was hurting Owens.
He told the jury on Tuesday: “If I am guilty of anything, it’s accessory.”
Closing arguments in the trial, which has lasted two weeks, are scheduled for today.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
