The majority of arguments during a Lexington man’s murder trial Tuesday centered around the testimony of a restaurant owner who said he witnessed first-hand a Christmas 2004 nightclub shooting.

Darius Wilson of Madison, Wis., said he was standing less than 15 feet away when 28-year-old Bryant Demore Brooks was gunned down outside a Middleton Street nightclub in Orangeburg.

“I seen Bryant in the door and the man known as ‘Black,’” Wilson testified Tuesday.

“You say Black, who is Black? Do you see him in the courtroom?” First Circuit Assistant Solicitor Charlie Johnson Jr. said.

“That man right there, Black, Jacob Bernard Jackson,” Wilson replied, pointing at Jackson.

Four days after the 2004 Christmas Day shooting, Jackson turned himself in to authorities. They charged the 30-year-old with murder in Brooks’ death.

Click here to listen to the opening arguement of the prosecution against Jackson.

It’s Jackson’s position that he wasn’t at the nightclub when the early morning shooting occurred.

In his opening statements, defense attorney Byron Gypson said, “There’s a proverb that says the witness who speaks first seems correct until the other side is given.

Click here to listen to this opening statement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to set the record straight.”

What isn’t being disputed is that around 1:20 a.m. Christmas 2004, police were sent to Ken’s Club near the junction of Middleton and Amelia Streets.

Upon their arrival, they found Brooks face down in an open area in front of the club. He had suffered four gunshot wounds to the back and front upper body and was declared dead at the scene.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Janice Ross testified that during her autopsy, she discovered two rounds struck Brooks in the chest area while another struck him in the back. A fourth round struck the back of his right arm before entering his side.

“Of the four, three could have been fatal,” Ross said.

Wilson testified he saw the actual shooting, the prior altercation and a mugging two and a half months before the fatal shooting.

The 23-year-old Wilson said he was distantly related to Brooks. He testified he spent the evening with the victim and several other relatives before deciding around 11 p.m. to go to Ken’s Club at the junction of Middleton and Henley Streets.

Someone told Wilson his uncle needed assistance, as he may have been intoxicated. Walking outside the club, Wilson checked on his relative. Then Brooks walked to the door to check on the uncle as well.

As he stood in the doorway, a gunman rounded the corner of the club.

“I seen Black shoot him -- BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,” Wilson said.

“You saw him standing over him, right?” Johnson said.

“I seen him standing over him and he, I don’t know if he run out of bullets or something,” Wilson said. “He look at me and run off.”

Wilson said at that point, he went to Brooks’ aid.

“He said, ‘Deebo (Wilson), pick me up.’ I said ‘I can’t, help’s on the way,’” Wilson said. “And two, three seconds after that, he took his last breath.”

According to Wilson, the Christmas murder wasn’t the first altercation between Brooks and Jackson. In October 2004, the two were involved in a dispute outside Platinum 301, a strip club just outside the city limits, Wilson said.

Brooks urinated beside Jackson’s car, upsetting the Lexington man, he said. During the ensuing argument, Brooks retrieved a semiautomatic pistol.

“And he walk up and put the TEC-9 up to Jacob Jackson and say, ‘Give me your wallet and keys,’” Wilson said.

“When’s the next time you saw Mr. Jackson?” Johnson said.

“At the club, when he did the shooting,” Wilson said.

Under an intense cross-examination that lasted longer than direct testimony, Gypson attacked Wilson’s credibility based on what appears to be differing accounts of the October conflict.

Gypson’s position is that Wilson told investigators in 2004 that it was Jackson, alias Black, who first drew a weapon during the strip club incident.

“But what I have read (of the statement), which part is not true?” Gypson said.

“Black pulled a gun on Brooks, that part ain’t true,” Wilson said.

The defense attorney’s counterattack intensified as Gypson painted the victim as a gunman protecting Wilson during the times he visited the Garden City.

“You saw the movie ‘Friday,’ right?” Gypson said, referring to the 1995 comedy about two friends smoking pot and drinking while trying to figure out how to pay a drug dealer for the marijuana they smoked. “And what does Deebo do in the movie?”

“He goes around robbing people,” Wilson said.

“And your nickname is Deebo?”

Wilson explained his uncle gave him the nickname for never having lost a fight.

Circuit Court Judge G. Edward Weimaker ordered court to be reconvened today at 9:30 a.m.

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

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