Another Trial Date Set for Demarcus Ivey Case After Previous Mistrial

IveyDemarcus Ivey, the man accused of shooting Adrian Youngblood, 25, in 2009 at Club Nikki’s, a strip club on Little Rock Road, is scheduled to appear in Superior Court Thursday for the second time in the case. The first trial, which took weeks for a jury to be chosen, ended Dec. 2 when ordered a mistrial by Judge Robert Ervin due to a hung jury.

The purpose of the Thursday trial is to set a trial date and/or address the counsel, according to a defendant’s slot docket notation.

In the first trial in December, attorneys Grady Jessup and Norman Butler claimed the DNA testing for the case was botched by police. They also said the prosecution lacked sufficient firearm or witnesses to connect Ivey with the killing.

Bill Bunting and Bill Stetzer, the assistant district attorneys, said the DNA did tie Ivey to the killing of Youngblood, which Stetzer described as “sport killing” in the court.

Prosecution also play a video compilation from the robbery showing two gunmen pulling up to the strip club in a Ford pickup. The men, who were identified as Ivey and Kevin Bishop by prosecutors, entered the club and ordered about a dozen of staff, dancers, and patrons of the club to get on the floor.

The man who prosecutors identify as Ivey was wearing a dark gray hoodie and stopped to rip something from the back of Youngblood’s neck as the two gunmen were leaving. Seconds later, the man paused and fired at Youngblood, who fell to the floor.

Police chased a Ford pickup later that day on Interstate 85 before the truck took the exit onto Beatties Ford Road and crashed, then two men fled the scene. Police found items from Club Nikki’s and the dark gray sweatshirt in the truck.

Ivey and Bishop were then arrested by police near the crash. Ivey is currently serving 20 years in prison on second-degree charges connected to the case.

Ivey’s criminal record already includes many arrests for violent crime, including assault, kidnappings, assaulting a government official, and armed robbery.  Last year, Ivey also was faced with the death penalty. Prosecutors on Thursday would not say if they plan to pursue the death penalty if given another chance.

Ivey is held without bond at Mecklenburg jail.

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