POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. -- The third trial of a Dinwiddie County man accused of killing his teen cousin in 2018 began in Powhatan County Tuesday after the first two attempts ended in a mistrial.
Anton Coleman is charged with the second-degree murder of Ke'Asia Adkins, 17.
Adkins was last seen at her grandmother's house in Dinwiddie County on the morning of June 25, 2018. Four days later, her body would be found in the woods behind her grandmother's house. She was found with a bag around her head and her cause of death was ruled asphyxiation.
Both Adkins and Coleman, who are first cousins, were staying at the home.
Coleman would eventually be indicted on first-degree murder charges. Those would be withdrawn and he was charged with second-degree murder.
The first trial, held in Dinwiddie County, was declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict in January 2020. A second mistrial was declared in February 2023, when the case was retried in Buckingham County Circuit Court.
While this case is being held in Powhatan Circuit Court, it is still being tried by the Dinwiddie County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office (DCAO).
One difference is former Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Baskervill is no longer involved as she resigned in June 2023. The case is being tried by Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jason Moore, who joined the DCAO in June 2023, and Jonathan Bourlier, who was appointed to serve the remainder of Baskervill's term (and is a candidate in November's election for the office).
Opening Arguments
After jury selection lasted about two hours, the prosecution and defense presented their opening arguments to 14 men and women of the jury (two will be excused before deliberations) on how they see the facts of the case.
Moore held up a photo of Adkins and told the jurors she was a multi-sport, multi-club 17-year-old with a 4.0 GPA and a part-time job and whose life was cut short by the suspect.
Moore said Adkins was last seen on the morning of June 25, 2018. Her disappearance was first treated as a runaway case, until her body was discovered in the woods behind the home.
The home belonged to her maternal grandmother and she had been staying there with her mother. Moore said Coleman had also begun staying at the home a few days before Adkins went missing.
He said after a cookout on that Sunday, Adkins's mother and grandmother left the house separately early Monday morning and both saw Adkins asleep in her bed. It would be the last time they ever saw her alive.
He added that she never showed up to cheer practice later that day and that her purse, wallet, and cheer bag were found to still be in her room.
Moore said after a phone call Adkins made before 9 a.m. that day, no one else was able to get in touch with her by text or calling until her body was found.
He said cellphone data and data from a GPS ankle monitor (that Coleman was wearing for an unrelated case) would give investigators a focus on where to search in the woods and eventually find Adkins's body. It would also place Coleman in the area as well. He said the data tracking Coleman's movements would be corroborated by eyewitnesses.
Moore said they also found DNA in Adkins's fingernails that could match Coleman's patrilineal line (meaning it could also be Coleman's father or other male relatives).
He said that with all these items he would introduce evidence, he believed the jury would find Coleman guilty.
Defense Opening
In his opening statement, Coleman's attorney, John Rockecharlie, told the jury that they are the finder of the facts that will be presented in the trial and determine what they actually show.
Starting with the DNA mentioned by Moore, Rockecharlie said on top of the DNA possibly being tied to anyone in Coleman's patrilineal line, the sample contained a third unrelated person. He also told the jury about "touch DNA", where someone can collect another person's DNA by touching a common object.
He also cast doubt on the GPS and cellphone data the prosecution would rely on, and said there is an accuracy issue with what will be presented and while investigators may say a person was in one location, they could be dozens of feet away.
Rockecharlie said his client told Adkins' parents that she had left the house that morning with some guy and on the day she went missing he had no visible injuries and was not acting weird.
He added the prosecution's case was based on circumstantial evidence and added they do not have information such as what day Adkins actually died and where.
He said no one will testify to seeing his client moving Adkins's body and there will be a witness that testified to Adkins getting into a car and leaving with somebody.
Commonwealth's Witness #1 — Adkins's Older Sister
The first witness for the prosecution was Adkins's older sister, who said she arrived at her grandmother's house for a family cookout on Sunday, June 24, 2018, around 6 p.m. She added she and Adkins left to go to the store for about 15 minutes before returning.
She said both Adkins and Coleman were there and she saw them interact once, when Coleman knocked on Adkins's bedroom door and asked her to do something, to which she eventually agreed. She added both were still at the house when she left around 8 p.m.
On defense cross, the sister clarified she never saw Coleman or Adkins touching. She said she did not know if Coleman's dad was also at the cookout, but could have been there earlier.
She also said she could not recall if she told investigators about the Coleman/Adkins interaction or if Coleman or his dad at been at the house in the week leading up to the cookout.
Commonwealth's Witness #2 — Adkins's Mother
The second prosecution witness was Adkins's mother, who said she and Adkins had moved in with her mother (Adkins's grandmother) about two weeks before her disappearance and Coleman had moved in two days before.
She added her daughter was not displaying any unusual behavior before her disappearance.
She said she left the house the morning of June 25, 2018, around 5:45 a.m., to go to work and saw her daughter asleep in her bed. She said she tried calling Adkins around 10:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., but it went straight to voicemail.
She said she then called Coleman, who was still at house and he said Adkins had left with a boy, but could not describe the boy or the car.
Adkins's mother said she then went to her old neighborhood to see if Adkins made it to her cheerleading practice, which she did not. She said she went back to the house and looked in Adkins's bedroom and saw her purse, wallet, cheerleading bag (packed for practice), but not her phone.
She said she then called police to make a missing person's report and they came to the house.
When asked about Adkins' body being found with no shoes on, her mother said that was uncommon for her to leave the house without shoes.
On cross examination, her mother clarified the layout of the neighborhood (a large oval with a single road leading to the main road) and was reminded of prior testimony she gave that over 100 people came and went from the house once Adkins went missing. She added she did not believe Coleman came back to the house after the day Adkins went missing (he left later that day with his father, the witness's brother).
She also testified that she did not recall more than one search of the woods that was behind and to the right of the home (as you face the house) — only recalling the one of June 28 when they found Adkins.
Commonwealth's Witness #3 — Adkins's friend
The next witness was a person who said he had been friends with Adkins since 2015 and that at the time she went missing, they spoke over the phone daily.
He said he spoke to Adkins between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. for about 10-15 minutes as he drove into work. He said he texted her around 1-2 p.m., but the message did not go through (stating they both had iPhones and instead of the standard blue message, it was green and said the message had failed to deliver). He added he tried calling after work, but it went straight to voicemail.
On cross examination, the man said back in 2018 he and Adkins were in a serious relationship.
When asked if he remembered testifying in previous trials that Adkins had told him cheerleading practice was canceled, so she was going to work, he said he did. But when asked again if that is what Adkins told him, he said he did not recall, but that is what he had previously testified.
When asked when Adkins said she was going to work, the witness said it was between 8-9 a.m. and would be heading in after they had hung up.
Commonwealth's Witness #4 — Adkins's Friend
The next witness was another friend of Adkins who said they were in cheerleading together.
She testified that they had cheer practice on June 25, 2018, but could not remember if it was in the a.m. or p.m. (but thought a.m.), but she did know that Adkins did not show up.
On redirect, she was asked about the last witness's claim to be Adkins's boyfriend and she said she did not know him and that him saying he was told practice was canceled would have been incorrect.
Commonwealth's Witness #5 — Adkins's Dad
The fifth witness for the Commonwealth was Adkins's dad.
He said on June 25, 2018, Adkins's mom had called him asking if he was going to take her to cheerleading practice and had gone to the house to switch cars with Adkins.
He said he got to the house around 1 p.m. and found Coleman at home on his phone, near the TV in the living room. He said they spoke for a bit and he said Adkins had left, but did not give additional details.
He added he checked all the rooms in the house, but did not see Adkins and added her room looked normal.
He said he was at the house for 30-45 minutes and Coleman was in the house the entire time. He said before he left, Adkins's grandmother arrived at the house.
On cross, the father said he did not notice Coleman looking disheveled in any way and nothing jumped out to him as being "awry" in the house.
Commonwealth's Witness #6 — Adkins's Grandmother
The sixth witness was Adkins's grandmother, whose home she, her mother and Coleman were staying at before she disappeared. She said while she, her daughter, and granddaughter had bedrooms, Coleman was sleeping on a chair in the den.
She mentioned several people who were at the cookout on the 24th, including Coleman and his father (who she said did not interact with Adkins). She added that while Coleman's dad has other sons, none of them were at the cookout.
She added she saw Adkins washing her hair in the sink that night.
The next morning, when she left for work, around 7:10 a.m., Adkins was asleep in bed and Coleman was outside in the front yard talking with her friend and remained there when she left.
She added she had spoken to Adkins about taking her to cheerleading practice that day. She said he tried to call Adkins about 25 times throughout June 25 from about 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., with all the calls going to voicemail.
She said Coleman told her about Adkins leaving with a boy, but no description about the boy or the car, and said Coleman left around 4 p.m. that day with his dad and stayed with his other grandparents.
The grandmother confirmed when she got back to the house she saw Adkins's comforter had a clear colored stain on it, which she then washed. But she later confirmed to the defense she never told police or anyone about this.
She was then asked if she recalled previously telling investigators that she drank coffee (she did not recall) and that she would throw it in the trash (she did recall). When asked about this by the defense, the pointed out her old testimony where she said she washed her coffee in the sink (which she did not dispute).
On cross examination, the grandmother said Coleman's father's other sons were never at her house, but Coleman's father visited about once a week. She confirmed that he, Coleman, and Adkins all touched things in the home (recall the defense opening arguments about touch DNA).
Commonwealth's Witness #7 — Adkins's Great Aunt
The next witness was the sister of Adkins's grandmother (or her great aunt), who has since passed, so her previous testimony was read before the jurors.
The testimony indicated the great aunt was at the Sunday cookout and she saw Adkins there, but did not see her interact with any men at the cookout.
She added that on Monday, June 25, she was coming back to the home around 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., when she saw Coleman running up the sidewalk near the home.
The cross examination indicated the witness previously said Coleman was walking, but the witness insisted he was running.
Commonwealth's Witness #8 — Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Deputy
The eighth witness was a then-deputy with the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office who handled the initial call from Adkins's family and completed a missing persons report.
On cross examination, the deputy confirmed he asked about potential people Adkins could have been around and was told about eight friends. He said he had reached out to all of them but only heard back from one, an ex-boyfriend (but he clarified the witness who testified earlier and said he was in a serious relationship with Adkins was not him).
He also confirmed he did go to the Burger King where Adkins worked and confirmed her name had been whited out on the schedule for June 25. But, he said he did not remember the manager at the store quitting that same day.
Commonwealth's Witness # 9 — Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Investigator
The ninth witness was one of the investigator involved in the case. He said he was the one who requested Adkins's phone records and went to her work to find out why her schedule was changed.
He said he also spoke to Coleman at a pharmacy on June 26 (along with his other grandparents) and said Coleman told him he saw Adkins around 9 a.m. June 25, when Coleman's mom dropped a sandwich for him off at the house and Adkins brought it to him. But he also said Coleman said he was not good with times.
The investigator also said he took part in an initial search of the woods behind the family's house that did not turn up anything. He said the woods had uneven depressions, heavy growth, and no direct sunlight.
On cross examination, the investigator confirmed the woods were about 100x150 yards, and he and three others covered the entire area in about five minutes.
Commonwealth's Witness #10 — Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Lieutenant
The tenth witness was another investigator who confirmed pieces of evidence that contained data for Adkins's and Coleman's cellphones and Coleman's GPS ankle monitor.
On cross examination, he confirmed Adkins's data was for 48 hours before she went missing, while Coleman's went even further back and some time after.
He confirmed that Coleman handed his phone over to investigators when asked.
Commonwealth's Witness #11 -- GPS Company President
The eleventh witness was the president of the Virginia company that operates the GPS ankle monitor Coleman was wearing. He said the monitor collected location data from satellites every minute and transmitted it back via cell towers to the company that manufactures them.
He said Coleman had his monitor put on June 18 and removed June 28 and there were no issues with it being tampered.
On cross, the president said he did not know if the monitor had been used on others before Coleman and said it could not have been over 1.5-years old as they return the device to the manufacturer by then.
Commonwealth's Witness #12 — Ankle Monitor Manufacturer Member
The next witness was someone with the company that made and supplied the ankle monitor and created the location history for investigators of Coleman's monitor between June 18-28.
He added Coleman's monitor had an AT&T SIM card (the other option would have been Verizon). He said the monitor recorded date, time, latitude, longitude, approximate address, direction of travel and estimated speed.
He added that the approximate address was estimated by Google maps using the latitude and longitude and that while the address could sometimes be wrong, the latitude and longitude would not.
He then gave a description of how the monitor collected that data and said it needed to locate at least six of 24 satellites in orbit, but things like buildings or heavy tree canopies could interfere. He added if no cell tower could be found by the monitor to send back the data, it could locally store 3600 minutes of data.
On cross examination, the witness said the monitor was sent to the Virginia company in August 2017 and Coleman was the first person to use it (he added the device had not been GPS tested during that time and did not know how it was handled during that time).
He then spoke about a GPS's accuracy variance or the potential area where a person could actually be in relation to where GPS data says they are. He said the smallest variance is 15 feet and the furthest is in the 500s.
Regarding the speed information, he said he could not say why someone who was standing still might have a GPS reading of 20 mph (he said it was outside his area of expertise).
When asked about the terms "drifting" or "floating" he said those were referring to the accuracy variance.
Commonwealth's Witness #13 — Ankle Monitor Manufacturer Member
The final witness of the day worked for the same company as the previous witness, but as a firmware engineer.
He spoke more about how the monitor worked and described how the monitor has a stationary and moving (which he called dynamic) mode and it works better in the latter and the potential for drifting increased in stationary mode.
On cross, the witness confirmed no additional testing of the GPS system on Coleman's monitor had been done by his company since it was sent to Virginia in 2017.
Expectations Going Forward
When the trial wrapped for the day, prosecutors indicated they would call more witnesses Wednesday, but had at least one witness who could not be in court until Thursday.
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