Emotional second day of testimony during Jennings murder trial

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee(WDEF) – Day two of the Rodney Jennings murder trial was anything but a pleasant experience as witnesses were forced to relive what they saw and heard the night Raphael White was shot to death inside an East Lake apartment building.

At one moment during witness testimony, Tiera Tony broke down so hard in tears that Judge Tom Greenholtz was forced to call for a break so that she could collect herself.  The emotional breakdown occurred as the prosecutor played audio from the 911 call the night Raphael White was killed.

Tony, Chesley Thompson and another witness told jurors about the events that led up to the moment they say Jennings shot and killed White. According to all three witnesses, the men were in the middle of a disagreement and both men told each other they didn’t want trouble.  But the situation reportedly went from bad to worse after Jennings was asked to leave the apartment.

“Raphael was shutting the door. I was behind Raphael. Raphael was shutting the door and that’s when we heard the shot,” said Thompson who is also Jennings’ ex-girlfriend.

“He was walking out the door. Before Raphael started shutting the door, he just shot him,” said Tony.

“As he was shot, what was Raphael doing? He was closing the door,” said a third witness who took the stand.

White was struck in the chest.

Rodney Jennings is accused of murdering Raphael White.

The witnesses told the court that Jennings ran from the scene.  They also explained what happened next as White struggled to survive his injury.

“He was trying to talk but he couldn’t say anything. Did you call 911? Randy called first then I called them second,” Tony said.

“I can’t remember what phone I grabbed because I was going in shock. I called 911 and I told them to get an ambulance because my brother just got shot,” said the third witness.

White was pronounced dead at Erlanger. All the witnesses have positively identified Jennings as the killer.

The trial is expected to continue Thursday and possibly into Friday.