The alleged driver in a 2005 drive-by shooting that targeted a 28-year-old woman was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on two counts of attempted murder.
Benjamin C. Thomas, 27, was accused of driving the car from which prosecutors allege Brian Kenneth Hicks, 27, fired multiple shots at Kalonniann Clark on June 12, 2005.
Clark was killed Dec. 6, just before she was to testify against Hicks.
During Thomas’ preliminary hearing Wednesday, Denver Detective Joel Humphrey said that Clark on Dec. 4 – two days before she was killed – identified Thomas as the driver of the car in the June 2005 incident.
Humphrey said Clark told police at the time of the shooting that Hicks “tried to shoot and kill her.”
“She said he was in the passenger seat. He extended his head and arm (outside the car) and fired at her, firing approximately 20 shots,” Humphrey testified.
Hicks is in jail on charges related to the 2005 incident.
Investigators say the shots fired into a limousine that killed Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams early New Year’s Day came from a sport utility vehicle registered to Hicks.
Suzanne Katchmar, Thomas’ attorney, questioned Humphrey on Wednesday about the timing of the identification – nearly 18 months after the 2005 incident.
The detective acknowledged under Katchmar’s cross-examination that Thomas, while admitting to know Hicks, hadn’t seen Hicks in a long time and didn’t own a car like the one from which the shots were fired.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
