20fogan

November 21, 2008 at 5:00 AM

By Janice Gregorson

gregor@postbulletin.com

Jermaine Barker said he was puzzled when he came home from work Aug. 15 and saw what he thought was some sort of verbal confrontation outside the house between his brother and Carlton Fogan.

That’s because the family had known Fogan for as long as he could remember, and there had never been a problem.

On this day, though, authorities allege that Fogan, 27, initiated a gunfight that ended up with bullets hitting vehicles and at least one house in a northeast city neighborhood. No one was injured.

Fogan, of Rochester, is now on trial in Olmsted County District Court, charged with three counts of aiding and abetting in second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, all felonies. He has pleaded not guilty.

The 18-year-old Barker testified Wednesday afternoon that he didn’t stop, but went inside the house to freshen up.

About 15 minutes later, Barker said, he had gone to the garage when he saw a car screech around the corner past their house at 425 11th Ave. N.E.

Fogan was a passenger in the red Cadillac. And Barker said Fogan had a gun, which he pointed up in the air. The driver had his shirt pulled up over the lower portion of his face, as in a mask. Barker’s first reaction was to close the garage door and get his young nieces and nephews inside. Then he looked out a garage window and saw Fogan’s car make a U-turn and come back past the house.

Barker said he was concerned about his nieces and nephews, about his mother, who was in a car across the street; and about his sister, Chakyna, who was standing outside the car talking to his mother.

Barker told jurors that Fogan and the other man parked in front of the church across the street. He then noticed that his mother was talking to Fogan. Both were still in their cars, parked side by side, one in a driving lane.

Barker said he began to slowly walk across the street. He said he could hear the man with Fogan, by now outside the car, yelling "do you want me to shoot the bitch?" meaning his sister. Barker said he was just crossing 11th Street when he heard shots — five or six.

"I took off and ran back to my house," he told jurors. He saw the man with Fogan run around the church.

"It was scary," he testified. "I could have been shot. My nieces and nephews could have been shot."

He didn’t see where the shots came from or who fired them.

"I was concerned about my whole family’s situation," he said.

Only a handful of witnesses have testified so far. Two have been Barker’s siblings.

His sister, Chakyna Henry, 23, returned to the witness stand Wednesday morning for more cross-examination by defense attorney Joseph Fru.

On Tuesday, she told jurors she never saw Fogan with a gun.

But Fru noted that Henry told police the day after the incident that Fogan did have a gun, that he did fire the gun and pointed it at her.

On Wednesday morning, she testified that she simply didn’t remember.

Henry is identified as one of the victims in the assault.

During opening statements Monday, Fru told jurors that this was a case of a rush to judgment, and that the truth was not found by investigators.

He hit hard on inconsistencies in Henry’s statement to police the day after the shooting and her testimony Tuesday, frequently showing her a copy of the transcript of her taped statement.

She conceded that, based on the transcript, she had told police that Fogan had a gun and had pointed it at her.

Fru asked Henry if she saw Fogan shooting.

She said she didn’t recall.

Again, he pointed to her transcript, where she told police she definitely saw Fogan shooting a gun.

"In fact you told the officer several times that Fogan was shooting?" Fru continued.

"Yes," Henry conceded, about the transcript.

Fru asked again if she ever saw Fogan point a gun at her.

She said she didn’t recall.

Again he asked if Fogan ever fired the gun.

She said Wednesday she didn’t recall.

"Did Fogan ever tell anyone to shoot at you?" Fru asked.

"Yes," Henry responded.