GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Grand Rapids judge will be deciding next week whether a Wyoming man, accused of murdering a young mother of two, will go to trial.
A preliminary hearing was held Wednesday morning for Keyante Newbern, who is facing four charges related to the killing of 23-year-old Mya Kelly, including:
- Homicide - Open Murder
- Carrying Concealed
- Firearm Possession by a Felon
- Felony Firearm
Kelly was shot and killed in her home at 47 Canton Street SW in Grand Rapids near South Division Ave on Dec. 26.
Omar Dannah, Kelly's boyfriend and the father of her two children, was home with her and the children when the shooting happened shortly before 10 p.m.
He testified there was a knock on the door and Kelly looked through the peephole.
Shortly after, gunshots went off.
"When the shots went off, I grabbed my son and ran. I was kind of like, on the ground, rumbling. I grabbed my daughter down and as soon as I looked back up, that was, like, the second to last shot that had hit her. As soon as I looked back up, it hit her and she just fell," said Dannah.
After responding to the shooting, a Grand Rapids Police officer testified he observed what appeared to be human legs sticking out from the front door that was ajar. He and other officers forced the door open and found Kelly near the bottom of the stairs shot in the left side of her head.
Another officer went through surveillance footage, explaining how they used it to track down a supposed 'getaway car' that dropped off Newbern on Canton Street SW near Kelly's house before the shooting.
"Here we have a person running down the sidewalk. Again they're running from west to east. Running on Canton towards Division," he said.
The driver of that car was Marquese Welch, who testified he'd known Newbern for 15 years.
Welch says he didn't know why Newbern wanted to go to Canton Street and he was parked at a business on Division Avenue. He assumed that Newbern would need a ride after he was done doing his task, even though Newbern hadn't expressed he would need a ride afterwards.
He admitted to telling detectives he heard Newbern say the following in the back seat of his vehicle after the shooting:
The prosecutor asked, "Do you recall saying to the officers that you heard him say, 'I shot that bitch or I shot up that bitch?'"
Welch responded, "Maybe."
Welch also says he saw a man named Isaiah Smith and Newbern holding a gun during a music video shoot at an AirBnB earlier that same day.
During his testimony, Smith said a gun was present during the shoot, though he doesn't know who brought it.
"You said everybody at this video had touched this gun?," the defense attorney said.
"Yes, sir," Smith said.
Newbern has pled not guilty.
There will be one more day of testimony and evidence on Tuesday, May 16 before the judge decides whether to bind this case over to trial.
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