In closing arguments late Friday morning, the state and the defense reiterated their arguments for and against the jury finding 22-year-old Lupe McGee Jr., of Merrillville, guilty of murdering his 22-year-old coworker Lanell Jenkins in the parking lot of their workplace in the early hours of Oct. 16, 2024.
The two men were coworkers at the Camaco seat manufacturing plant at 6515 Ameriplex Dr., Suite B, in Portage. They were part of a larger group drinking and hanging out in the parking lot following the end of their midnight shift when events led to McGee firing five rounds from a large caliber handgun, three of which struck Jenkins in the throat and chest, leading to fatal bleeding on the scene.
Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Kire Pavlovski reminded the 13 jurors in Superior Court Judge Michael Fish’s courtroom of the testimony of one witness who had recalled the defendant saying, “I don’t fight. I shoot.” He also refreshed their memories on the testimony of team lead Kenneth Scott, who had told the court earlier this week that McGee had been drinking during his shift and was slurring his speech.
Pavlovski refuted a claim made by a witness on Monday that McGee and Jenkins had struggled over the gun that was used to shoot Jenkins. “We know there was no struggle for the gun because we have the surveillance video,” he told the jury. He also added that DNA from the victim was not found on the gun.
Pavlovski reminded the jurors of Scott’s testimony that when he stepped between McGee and Jenkins, McGee didn’t leave and that he saw Jenkins’ hands on the straps of his backpack, and he didn’t make any forward motions. Where is the risk of serious bodily injury in all the testimony, he asked?
Pavlovski said chestbumping and a handshake were as violent as it got. Photographs of the defendant’s hands and torso show no wounds of any kind, nor do the victim’s beyond the three gunshot wounds that killed him.
“For the life of me, I can’t see where Lanell Jenkins was in the process of committing a forcible felony,” Pavlovski said.
He concluded that while there is testimony that Jenkins was drunk and behaving obnoxiously, “does that warrant a death sentence? The state of Indiana does not believe so.”
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Defense attorney Jesse Harper said Jenkins’ repeated calls to shoot, coupled with the rapidly evolving situation, led McGee to fear for his life and act in self-defense.
“The state’s own witnesses told you that he (Jenkins) could not keep his hands off him (McGee),” he said. “He’s a 20-year-old young man living with his parents, has a new job at Camaco, really doesn’t know these people very well.”
Harper told the jury that Pavlovski was correct that McGee did tragically shoot and kill Jenkins. He said the state doesn’t have a burden to convince the jury that McGee killed Jenkins, but to “convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that Lupe McGee was not acting in self-defence in that moment.”
Doesn’t the perception of self-defense depend upon the words that were said, he asked. “Let’s have a gunfight. Let’s have a shootout. Let’s blow,” Harper said, paraphrasing statements witnesses testified Jenkins had made. “Lanell was wearing a shirt that read, ‘God forgives. I don’t.’”
“It wasn’t just words. It was the situation,” Harper said, reminding the jury that the group was in the darkest part of the parking lot when the shooting occurred and that the defendant testified he had had a pint of vodka the night of the shooting. “That’s a situation that can turn deadly violent in a second. In this state, each of us has the right to defend ourselves and Lupe McGee has that right too.”
He told the jury to think about waking up the morning after they deliver their verdict. “Reasonable doubt is a heavy burden that not only protects Lupe McGee and everyone in this courtroom, but it protects you,” he said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.