COLLEEN MCCARTHY

A mistrial was declared in the case against Leslie Sharp Saturday afternoon when a juror fell ill and need immediate medical attention.
The jury was in deliberations for almost three hours, when it was announced that a woman was in distress and an ambulance had been called. When a jury starts deliberations, they cannot be separated until a verdict is reached. The woman needed to be transported to the hospital, separating her from the other jurors. Judge Lee Howard had no choice but to declare a mistrial.
Sharp, 21, stands accused of murdering Christopher Cole, 20, on November 10, 2008. Sharp was in a vehicle with Cole’s girlfriend when an argument broke out between Cole, his girlfriend, and another female occupying the car. Cole then pulled out a gun, and shot once in the air.

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STEVEN NALLEY

When members of the Experimental Aircraft Association fly into town for a meeting, they don’t fly coach or first class. They fly in piloting their own airplanes, sometimes built with their own two hands.
Chapter 1189 of the EAA will meet Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory Annex at George M. Bryan Field, featuring privately owned and homemade planes on display. Guest speaker for the event will be Rod Hightower, president of EAA.
The local EAA chapter has 100 members in the Golden Triangle, Macon, Meridian, Jackson, Tupelo, Grenada, Pontotoc and other communities at some distance from Starkville. Rodney Lincoln, airport manager at George M. Bryan Airport, said he wasn’t sure if all 100 members would be there, but several of them would be in attendance. He also said several of them might fly in.
“There’ll be a lot of planes,” Lincoln said. “If the weather’s good, they’ll fly in coming into the meeting, and they’ll fly back out going home.”
Lincoln said non-members aren’t typically invited to EAA meetings, but this time they would have the chance to meet and talk with pilots at this meeting during a social hour with coffee and doughnuts starting at 8:30 a.m.
Then, at 9:30 a.m., Hightower will talk about experimental aircraft and the future of aircraft and aviators.
“It’s a monthly chapter meeting, but this one is a special meeting because the special guest is the president of the EAA, and he’s never been to Mississippi before this week.”

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COLLEEN MCCARTHY

Leslie Sharp took the stand Thursday to testify in her defense in a case of what Judge Lee Howard described as “not a ‘whodunit,’ but a ‘whydunit.’”
Sharp, 21, is charged in the murder of Christopher Cole, 20, in what she claims was self-defense and in the defense of the others around her on November 10, 2008.
Eyewitnesses, several investigators and experts already testified over the last few days.
Sharp’s testimony began with a brief history of her background. She said that she had received training in the handling of guns from both her father, Rick Sharp, who is employed as a Sheriff’s Deputy with the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office, as well as from a program called the Explorer Post, which offers training in various aspects of law enforcement, from taking witness statements to firearm usage. She said that she had been “raised around guns” her whole life.
Sharp’s attorney, Jack Brown, questioned her on the events surrounding Cole’s death. Sharp testified that she went to her friend Nicole Tranchina’s house early in the evening on November 10, 2008. Tranchina mentioned that their mutual friend, Alissandra “Alize” Inzunza, would be coming over and bringing a woman named Kayla Huffman. When the two females arrived, Sharp said they explained that Inzunza had found out her boyfriend, Cole, had been “hitting on Kayla,” and they planned to “catch Chris in a lie” and invited Sharp and Tranchina to come along.
Sharp testified that neither she nor Tranchina wanted to go, but went anyway, because they had “nothing else to do.” Before leaving, Sharp said that she retrieved a gun from her vehicle. She later said that the gun had been given to her by her father for protection just one week earlier.
Sharp said Inzunza found out that Cole was likely at a friend’s house on Kelly Road, an area that she was unfamiliar with. When the females drove past the house, Sharp said that Cole was getting into his truck and leaving. Huffman, who was driving the car, turned around and caught up to Cole at a stop sign down the road. Cole stopped his vehicle, and got out. Sharp said that Inzunza wanted to speak with him, so she got out of their vehicle and attempted to get into Cole’s truck. Cole grabbed her, pushed her around and they began “screaming and cussing” at each other, said Sharp. Cole then walked over to the driver’s side of the vehicle all the females were in and proceeded to scream at Huffman, who was driving.
Sharp testified that Cole then reached under his shirt and pulled out a pistol, and fired it once to his right, toward the ground. He continued to try to fire the gun, but it only made a “click, click, click,” Sharp said. She stated that he then started to walk backwards, “fiddling” with his gun as if he was trying to figure out what was wrong with it, and then pointed it toward the front of their vehicle.

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COLLEEN MCCARTHY

The Starkville Police Department will host a “Fun Day in the Park” this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Westside Park.
“Fun Day in the park was started in 2005 and was designed to be part of our Community Oriented Policing program for outreach to the young people in the community to start the summer in a positive environment of activity that will be fun and educational to the attendees,” Chief David Lindley said.
The event will feature games, free food, entertainment and prizes. The Community Oriented Policing Unit is sponsoring the event in hopes of fostering a good relationship with the public.

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