The Truth Shall Set Us Free Donyell Dewayne Holland My Story, On the Record
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Chapter 3

Teakwood Drive: Where the State Says Randall Was Shot

What this means for Donyell

Teakwood is where the State says Randall was shot: outside, at the steps of the camper. Police did not process that scene for 12 days, never tested the ground in front of the camper, and have produced no crime-scene log showing it was ever taped off or who walked through it.

Teakwood, in the order it happened

  1. May 27, 2020, 6:35 PMShots-fired call at Arbor Place Lane and Teakwood Drive: “single shot fired and a female scream.” Officers were “unable to locate anything.” Nothing was taped off and nothing was collected. No 911 audio or dispatch record of the call has been produced.CPD memo 20-051755; Stokes affidavit ¶9
  2. May 28 to June 8, 2020Twelve days with no crime-scene work at Teakwood. Anyone could come and go.
  3. June 8, 2020, 11:13 PMThe crime-scene unit (McElroy #634 and Johnson) arrives and walks the property with Det. Stokes. The chemical blood test is used only inside the camper. The driveway and the ground in front of the camper are described but never sampled.McElroy, Execution of Warrants report
  4. June 8 to 9, 2020A Ring camera is removed and does not appear on the inventory. A Night Owl DVR, a game camera and two cameras inside the camper are seized. No footage from any of them has been produced.Evidence inventory items 37, 55, 123, 124
  5. June 9, 2020, 4:04 AMThe camper is towed to the CPD Narcotics bay.McElroy report
  6. June 12, 2020The inventory logs camper material as “found at: Yard at 4088 Teakwood Dr.” The camper had been towed away three days earlier.Inventory item 88
  7. October 30, 2020TBI tests the camper cushion and ottoman: “Presumptive chemical testing did not indicate the presence of blood.”TBI 201012860
  8. December 9, 2021Brittany Lanham’s only recorded statement puts the shot in the driveway, with Randall carried into the camper afterward.Disc 14
  9. May 2024, trialThe CSU officer agrees the property was a “gathering spot” where people would hang out. The jury hears about “the safe in Teakwood.” No safe is on the inventory.Trial Tr. 1.3
  10. May 16, 2024, closingThe State puts the shooter on the camper stairs, “from an elevated position.”Tr. 3.2, 00:16:26 to 00:19:09
  11. May 16, 2024, rebuttal“He shoots Randall Leslie on the steps of that camper.” Then: “Fair point. There is no blood.”Tr. 3.3, 00:02:17 and 00:07:31
  12. To this dayNo crime-scene log for Teakwood has been produced. The officer wrote that he “collected the crime scene log for the case file.” Chattanooga Police rules call for barricade tape, a restricted perimeter and a signed log at a homicide scene (OPS-36, OPS-12).

So what

The State told the jury Randall was shot outside, at the camper steps. That ground sat open for 12 days, was never taped off on any record produced, and was never tested. The only place police tested was the inside of the camper, and it came back with no blood.

The State’s own video of the search (00001 to 00003) is being reviewed frame by frame for who walked in front of the camper.

Teakwood: the safe, the cameras and whose room it was.

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