Issiah Ross, the 21-year-old suspect in the 2022 shooting deaths of Lyric Woods and Devin Clark, was found guilty of second degree murder on Friday by a jury of his peers. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the charge of first degree murder of Lyric Woods, and thus the court declared a mistrial in her case.
The jury handed down their decision regarding Clark’s death following two weeks of proceedings.
The Case
Testimony from the trial shedded light on the series of events that led 14-year-old Lyric Woods, 18-year-old Devin Clark, and the then 17-year-old Ross to end up in the woods together. On the night of Sep. 17, 2022, Clark texted the then 17-year-old Issiah Ross and asked him to drive both himself and Woods into rural Orange County so Clark and Woods could have sex. Recovered Snapchat messages implied that Clark said Ross would be able to have sex with Woods as well. A few hours past midnight, an altercation occurred outside of Ross’ mother’s white GMC that resulted in both Woods and Clark dying from multiple gunshot wounds. The teens were reported missing before being found on the afternoon of the 18th by two ATV riders.
Ross was quickly identified as a person of interest after police received a tip from an associate of Ross’, Christian Sykes, who claimed Ross confessed to killing both Clark and Woods over the phone. He was tracked down in Delaware, where he had traveled in order to stay with his father after being kicked out by his mom for damage her car had accrued during the previous night.
The Trial
During the resulting trial, state attorney Anna Orr claimed that Ross was responsible for both murders, wrestling away a gun Clark brought to the scene before shooting him, and then turning the gun on Woods as a potential witness. Ross’ defense, led by attorney Jonathan Trapp, instead argued Ross killed Clark in self-defense after witnessing him shoot and kill Woods over an argument.
Christian Sykes was a star witness for the prosecution, with the tape of his initial interview in 2022 becoming a key evidence. It was one of the pieces of evidence the jury requested to review during deliberation.
Sykes acknowledged both in 2022 and on the stand that he knew Ross to often stretch the truth. But he recalled Ross showing off a gun in the video call and saying he had “capped” two people the night before after giving them a ride to have sex.
“He didn’t give me [any] names,” Sykes said in 2022. “He was like, ‘Well, the dude was holding the beam on me,’ and I’m assuming [Ross] meant the gun had a laser type of [attachment] to it. And he was pointing it at [Ross], and [Ross] was like, ‘I don’t like that.’
“He was like, ‘I told him to stop,” Sykes said in the video, “and then he said the grabbed the gun, and they were wrestling with the gun. Then I’m assuming Devin had his finger in it, and [Ross] said a bullet went between his legs. And [Ross] said he got the gun from [Clark] and shot him. And he said…the girl who was in the backseat… ‘She saw everything, so I turned around and I shot her.’”
The defense took issue with a few key details in Sykes’ recollection of events. First was the detail that Ross showed Sykes the gun over video call, which according to the accepted series of events is likely impossible, since Ross admitted to disposing of the gun in the woods the night of the crime. The gun, or Clark’s phone which Ross said he disposed of alongside it, have never been found. Secondly, there was Sykes’ claim that Ross shot both Clark and Woods within the car. Physical evidence instead points to the teenagers being shot outside of the car. The state posited that this second detail was likely a misunderstanding on Sykes’ part.
Another witness called by the state was James Rogers, a nearby resident who claimed to have heard gunfire that night.
“It was a loud four shots,” the Yarborough Road resident told the jury. “Everything was completely quiet… there weren’t any cars going up and down the road or anything. And it was just, ‘Pow, pow, pow, pow.’ That’s what got me up [out of bed].”
He claimed there was a series of shots, a period of silence that lasted a few minutes, and then more gunshots. This detail proved to be important, as it contradicted Ross’ testimony that Clark killed Woods and he killed Clark within roughly a minute.
The state also called expert witnesses on hair analysis and DNA. While hair analysis did not return any conclusive results, multiple DNA swabs from both the victims and the crime scene indicated a strong statistical likelihood that Clark and Woods engaged in sexual contact in the car. There was no DNA evidence pointing to Ross having sexual contact with either victim that night.
The defense only called Ross to the stand to testify, allowing him to lay out the events of that night in his own words. He described witnessing Clark kill Woods, described the struggle over Clark’s gun, and explained how he then killed him in what he called self-defense. The prosecution took aim at various details of his testimony, claiming they did not align with presented evidence. Firstly, they claimed that most of the gunshot wounds being in the victims’ backs suggests they were trying to flee when shot. Next, they took issue with Ross’ claim that he returned to the crime scene to retrieve his black quarter zip hoodie he said he used to move Clark’s body. They claimed Ross was wearing the hoodie in security footage taken from the gas station he visited, which would contradict his timeline. They also pointed to Ross’ calm affect during testimony, saying it did not align emotionally with someone describing what they called the worst moment of their life.
The Charges
The jury was given instruction on three potential charges for Ross: first degree murder, second degree murder, and voluntary manslaughter. The primary difference between first and second degree murder is whether or not the defendant acted with premeditation, and the difference between second degree murder and voluntary manslaughter is whether the defendant acted with malice. Neither side was trying to argue that Ross didn’t kill Clark, rather the defense argued he did so without premeditation or malice, acting out of self-defense. During proceedings both the prosecution and defense seemed to agree that second degree murder, which is killing in the moment with malice, likely did not apply to this case, but Judge Stephanie Reese decided to provide the jury with instruction on the charge anyways.
The Conviction
Ross’ second degree murder conviction means the jury has found the defendant guilty of intentionally killing Devin Clark with malice, although without premeditation. Ross has been found neither innocent or guilty in the crime of Lyric Woods’ death.
Image via the courthouse press pool
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