Accused killer of Andrew Graham to stand trial: "I want it to be finished"

More than 13 years after college student Andrew Graham, 23, was shot and killed as he walked home from a light rail station, the man charged with his death is scheduled to go on trial beginning Friday.

"I'm really glad we are almost there," said Cyndi, Graham's mother. "It's been a difficult road just getting to this point."

Graham was shot and killed in November 2009 as he returned to his home in Centennial from a nearby RTD light rail stop. He was shot in the back and investigators suspected he was the target of a racially-motivated robbery.

Investigators developed five suspects they believed were connected to Graham's death, who have been identified as Terrell Jones, Allen Ford, Kendall Austin, Joseph Martin, and Clarissa Lockhart.

Prosecutors in Arapahoe County convened a grand jury in 2011 but that ended with no charges, even after hearing from 70 witnesses. 

But in 2017, a new District Attorney convened a new grand jury that indicted Ford, Austin, Martin, and Lockhart on felonies related to the Graham death. 

Investigators believed they were accomplices and present during the murder. Charges against Austin were dropped in 2019.

All along though, investigators believed that Terrell Jones was the actual shooter. Ford, Martin and Lockhart eventually agreed to plea bargains and were sentenced to prison. 

They're also expected to testify against Jones, who was arrested in 2020 and was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of felony murder. 

Jones has pleaded not guilty and denied to investigators that he shot Graham. The three witnesses have all failed polygraph tests at various times, changed their stories and offered conflicting accounts of what happened, according to court documents in the case. 

In 2010, Jones took a polygraph test and investigators say he was deceptive when asked if he had shot and killed Andrew Graham.

Although Jones was a juvenile when the Graham murder occurred, state records show he was arrested numerous times since then.

David Fisher, a defense attorney who represented Kendall Austin, told CBS News Colorado, prosecutors have never found the murder weapon and have little in the way of forensic evidence like fingerprints and blood. But he says witness confessions, pointing the finger at Jones, can be persuasive.

"The problem is that confession evidence is so strong that jurors will often overlook everything else if someone admitted to a crime, they must have done it no matter what," Fisher said. 

He went on to say that he believed confessions by the three witnesses were coerced by police. Fisher has now filed a civil lawsuit over Austin being jailed for three years before charges against him were dropped.

Eric Ross, a spokesperson for the 18th Judicial District Attorneys Office said prosecutors would not discuss the case prior to trial.

For Cyndi Graham, while she is glad the trial of her son's alleged killer is almost here, she knows the roughly four week long trial will not be easy.

"I have no illusions. Its going to be tough," she said. 

Her focus remains on her son, who she thinks of every day. 

"I think of the type of man he was and the type of leader he would have been if he had a chance. I miss him terribly and wish he was still here."