A man charged in the March 2001 shooting death of a 21-year-old SIUC student began his jury trial Monday at the Jackson County Courthouse in Murphysboro.

Terron C. Price, 23, of Tamms is being tried for fatally shooting Marcus S. Thomas, a junior in psychology from Matteson, during an attempted robbery outside Thomas’ home in the 300 block of East College Street.

Price was charged by the Jackson County state’s attorney with two counts of first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery. If found guilty, he faces 20 to 60 years in an Illinois correctional facility.

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During the trial, Jackson County 5th Circuit Court Judge E. Dan Kimmel said he anticipates the jury will have heard enough testimony to reach a verdict today.

Price was arrested in April in Gary, Ind., after he had been wanted in connection with Thomas’ death since August 2002.

According to previous police testimony at Price’s May preliminary hearing, Price was accompanied by two of his cousins, Maurice D. Carter and Jeremy Clark, during the attempted robbery.

Carter, 22, testified Monday he, Price and Clark originally planned to rob Thomas’ home of money and marijuana. Carter is serving a four-year prison sentence at the Menard Correctional Facility in Chester for armed robbery in connection with Thomas’ death.

Carter said the three cousins met March 16 at a family member’s home within walking distance of Thomas’ home. He said Price was carrying a sawed-off .22 caliber rifle while they walked to the residence.

Carter said he stood on the corner of a street near Thomas’ home and acted as a lookout while Price and Clark walked up to the residence’s front deck and knocked on the door. He said he heard glass breaking behind him, turned around and saw Price and Thomas wrestling on the porch. Carter said Clark stood nearby and did nothing.

Carter testified he saw Thomas jump over a railing on the deck and then heard a gunshot. Carter said he ran as soon as he heard the shot and continued to run as he heard more gunfire. He said he did not see who was firing the shots and was unaware that anyone was hurt.

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He testified he saw Thomas running down a street and then caught up with Price and Clark and ran with them in another direction. Carter said the three of them never chased Thomas and did not discuss the situation during the rest of the evening.

Carter said he did not discuss what happened with anyone until he was arrested in August 2001 in connection with the incident.

Thomas’ body was shot once in the lower back in the early morning hours of March 17, 2001, and found on the living room floor of an apartment in the 300 block of South Marion Street.

According to Carbondale Police, residents living between Thomas’ home and the apartment where his body was found reported hearing gunshots at about 3 a.m. and seeing someone run down a street yelling for help. A blood trail stretched from Thomas’ house to about 100 feet down the street.

Carbondale Police Officer Aaron Burrill testified Monday he was called to the apartment and found a black male later identified as Thomas with no shirt and no shoes, lying on his stomach. Burrill said he noticed a bullet lodged in Thomas’ back as well as dried blood around the gunshot wound and on his face. The officer said he attempted to rouse Thomas and discovered he had no pulse.

Burrill said he immediately notified Carbondale Police and the Jackson County Ambulance Service for assistance.

He said there were no signs of forced entry to the residence as the apartment’s tenant had left the door unlocked.

Carbondale Police Sgt. Paul Echols, who supervises the department’s forensic science unit, testified Monday that officers found a blood-stained, partially torn T-shirt along a fence near the South Marion Street apartment building. He said officers also found a bloodstained dollar bill and a trail of blood droppings behind the building.

Echols said he was present for Thomas’ autopsy and saw a .22 caliber bullet removed from his back.

Police have not yet recovered a weapon in the investigation.

Carbondale Police Detective Mark Goddard testified Monday that he found a .22 caliber shell casing three days after the shooting between two boards on Thomas’ wood front porch.

Jackson County State’s Attorney Michael Wepsiec, who is prosecuting the case, told the jury the county has evidence to show Price was involved in the robbery. Wepsiec said that according to Illinois law, if anyone dies during a forcible felony attempt, even if the death was accidental, anyone directly involved is guilty of committing first-degree murder. Wepsiec said Price is no exception.

“He may not have had the intent to kill Marcus Thomas,” Wepsiec said to the jury. “But Marcus remains dead today.”

Jackson County Assistant Public Defender Margaret Degen, who is defending Price in the trial, reminded the jury that Price sits in trial as an innocent man and that he has to be proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

“Terron doesn’t have to prove anything,” Degen said to the jury. “That’s up to the state’s attorney.”

Price is being held at the Jackson County Jail in Murphysboro.

The trial is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. today at the Jackson County Courthouse.

Reporter Burke Wasson can be reached at [email protected]