The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

February 7, 2013

Judge denies motion to set bail for suspect in Fayette murder

By C.V. Moore Register-Herald Reporter

FAYETTEVILLE — Terreque A. Gray, accused of murdering Maurice McCain at an Oak Hill residence, has been denied bond and placed in jail to await further legal proceedings.

Details about the case began to emerge at a hearing in Fayette County Circuit Judge John Hatcher’s courtroom on Wednesday as law enforcement and those close to Gray looked on.

Gray’s attorney, Jim Adkins, argued that his client should be released on bail and placed under home confinement at his mother's house with GPS monitoring. Prosecuting attorney Carl Harris raised no objection to these conditions and a $100,000 bond.

But considering the facts presented by both sides at the hearing, the “significant” drug problem in Fayette County, and “all the angst, emotion, and turmoil created by this shooting,” Hatcher denied the motion to set bail, he said, “for the health, safety and welfare of the defendant and the public at large.”

It is alleged that on Jan. 17, Gray shot and killed Maurice McCain at a home on Highlawn Ave., where several people, including James Cosby Jr., Lindsey Smith, Jonathan Fruit, and the deceased had gathered to smoke marijuana. Gray allegedly also brought a 40-caliber handgun with him that had been purchased by Smith.

“The story (Gray) told that evening was that the gun was sliding off the arm of the couch or off his leg and he grabbed for it and it went off. That doesn’t pan out with that type of gun,” Harris told the court.

One bullet struck McCain below the eye, killing him.

Harris said the gun does not have an exterior safety and that he does not think the gun went off as Gray described.

“From the testimony of those who were there, there didn’t appear to be any arguments going on. So somewhere between there, we have to figure out exactly what happened,” said Harris.

Hatcher said the fact that others in the house at the time claim not to have witnessed the incident “strains at reason a bit.”

Gray, 23, is also currently charged with wanton endangerment with a firearm and robbery in the first degree in Raleigh County, stemming from what police say was a drug-related crime in April 2012.

—E-mail: cmoore@register-herald.com

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