Trial begins in shooting death of man who fought ex-Seahawk

Just hours after Terrell Milam slipped out of a federal halfway house, went clubbing in Pioneer Square and allegedly fought with then-Seahawks player Ken Hamlin, his body was found splayed on a sidewalk in the upscale Seward Park neighborhood.

Omar Norman shot Milam in the head during a predawn car ride on Oct. 17, 2005, said King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Castleton in his opening statement Tuesday in Norman's first-degree-murder trial.

Castleton said Milam was riding with gang members, Norman and Charles Justice when he said the wrong thing. Milam told Norman and Justice he had been involved in the nonfatal shooting of a man named "Rollo." Milam didn't realize that Raphael "Rollo" Justice was Charles Justice's older brother.

Justice, who was driving, turned around and shot Milam six times in the torso and arms, Castleton said. Then Norman "topped him off," according to court documents, by shooting Milam, 31, once in the head through his blue Angora hat. Norman and Justice dumped Milam's body a block from Seward Park and Lake Washington.

Norman has pleaded not guilty. Charles Justice has not been charged.

Norman's lawyer, Don Minor, told the jury Castleton's evidence was flawed.

The case is steeped in gangster culture. Norman, now 24, was a founding member of Seattle's Low Profile gang, an offshoot of the Deuce Eight gang Milam was prominent in. Rival gang members brawled in King County Superior Courthouse last week during pretrial motions.

Several key figures and witnesses in the case have gang ties. They include Tyree Lee, who was shot to death in a 2007 unsolved homicide, and Mark "Li'l Mo Skreel" Anderson, who prosecutors say told police Norman wounded him with a shotgun while trying to keep him from talking about Milam's killing.

Although Norman and Milam were in different gangs, "that was not the motivation" for the shooting, Castleton said, pointing to Milam's role as a getaway driver in the shooting of "Rollo" Justice two weeks earlier.

Milam's killing also had nothing to do with Hamlin, who now plays for the Dallas Cowboys. Hamlin suffered a fractured skull in a street brawl outside Larry's Nightclub on the morning Milam was killed. Milam's role in the fight remains unclear. He knocked Hamlin to the ground, Milam's brother told a reporter shortly after the incident.

According to prosecutors, Milam sneaked out of a Seattle halfway house earlier that evening. Milam was convicted of killing a man in 1994 and was in the halfway house for being a felon in possession of body armor.

Milam met a woman for drinks at a bar in the Cascade neighborhood. They then went to separate nightclubs in Pioneer Square. At closing time Milam called her for a ride.

They ended up at Lee's house in the Central District. The woman soon went home to Shoreline and testified in court Tuesday the last time she saw Milam he was getting in a car with several other men around 3:30 a.m. A jogger found his body about two hours later.

Detectives had hit a dead end as to who shot Milam. But more than a year after his death they caught a break, thanks to what Castleton called "loose lips" — a departure from a no-snitch policy on the streets that has hindered recent homicide investigations.

While being questioned about an unrelated robbery, another gang member, Eljae "Hellraiser" Givens told detectives in February 2007 that Norman admitted to killing Milam, Castleton said.

Evidence near Milam's body also led police to Norman. A cigarette butt and a spent shell casing had Norman's DNA on them, Castleton said.

Last May, Anderson — who has just been arrested in connection with a shooting — told police that Norman had also confided to him that he killed Milam.

Defense attorney Minor said the prosecutors' witnesses and evidence were assailable.

In a preview of his defense, Minor said Givens' testimony was uncertain and Anderson's was inconsistent.

He said the "real story about DNA" found by police "isn't what you think of in terms of identifying someone."

Police say Norman told them Milam was killed in an gunbattle between rival gang members. Norman said he was part of that battle; that's why the cigarette and shell casing with his DNA were found in the area.

Castleton called Norman's alibi "fantastical." No one in the Seward Park neighborhood heard shots and there were no shells or other evidence of a gunfight discovered by police, he said.

But Castleton acknowledged that Givens might not be a stellar witness; he might not stick to what he told police when he takes the stand, perhaps this week.

"I'll be honest," Castleton told jurors. "I don't know what he's going to say."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com