The preliminary hearing of one of the men accused of the 2019 shooting of aspiring rap artist William Underwood began Wednesday in a case that stretches over years, involving multiple players, gang activity and a "beef" between rappers in the local Colorado Springs music scene.
Underwood, who went by the rapper name "FYL Jackk," was found dead on a sidewalk in the 1900 block of Shawnee Drive in the Cimarron Hills area onSept. 17, 2019, after officers arrived to a shots-fired call.
Wednesday’s defendant, 26-year-old Aeeshawn Mathews, is one of the two men arrested in Underwood's death. Mathews was taken into custody onMarch 11on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Derrick Bernard,35, was also arrested in the shooting by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office onMarch 7and isbeing heldon suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and solicitation of first-degree murder. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
The arrest affidavit in the case show that investigators believe that Bernard, while incarcerated on an unrelated charge in prison in Sterling, arranged a firearm for Mathews and gave him permission to commit the shooting.
In phone and email messages from the El Paso County Jail, Bernard denies any involvement in Underwood's killing, and likewise says that Mathews had nothing to do with it either.
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Mathews appeared in custody Wednesday morning, represented by attorney Josh Tolini. The prosecution, led by attorneys Jordan Welch and TonyGioiacalled Sheriff’s Deputy David Glenn as the first witness Wednesday morning.
Glenn, who was a detective with the Sheriff’s Office’s criminal investigations special victims unit in 2019, was one of the officers who responded on Shawnee Drive in 2019.
The prosecution entered multiple pieces of evidence verified by Glenn to be photographs of the crime scene. Glenn described the pictures to the court, which depicted Underwood lying on concrete outside the Shawnee Drive residence with multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
“It (the crime) was very violent in nature,” Glenn added, continuing that the homicide appeared tobe “personal.”
Welch then called Agent Courtney McCormack to the stand. Now an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in Pueblo, McCormack worked with the EPCSO homicide andmajorcrime team at the time of Underwood’s murder.
McCormack told the court Wednesday she was assigned to monitor social media, specifically Facebook, overnight onSept. 17, 2019, to search for leads in the shooting.
McCormack said because of Underwood's popularity in his community as an aspiring rap artist who was featured on multiple online platformsincludingFacebook, YouTube and Soundcloud, sheobserved,“thousands” of comments and posts the night of the incident in response to Underwood's death.
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“As we continued to go throughleadswe found it (the crime) spanned back to March 2019,” McCormack said, involving multiple local players, includingdefendants Mathews and Bernard.
McCormackwent on to explainthe discourse between those involved erupted in the comments section of a KKTV article posted to the station's Facebook page in late March 2019.
The article posted by KKTV featured the arrest of Mathews co-defendant, Derrick Bernard, in connection with a “major drug trafficking case,” in which Bernardis accusedof playing a part in the trafficking ongoing at the two Colorado Springs locations of Hoppz’ Cropz.
According to the KKTV report, Bernard entered a plea agreement in March 2019 for charges of possession of a weapon by a previous offender andwas sentencedto 32 months in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
According to McCormack, an argument between multiple women in the social circles of Bernard, Mathews and Underwood erupted online, in which a friend of Underwood, ChristineDavidson, publiclyquestioned Bernard’s involvement in the reported drug trafficking case on a Facebook post by KKTV.
McCormack went on to clarify the relationships of the players involved in the case. While Davidson was previously romantically involved with Bernard, Bernard was with Samantha Gains in March 2019, and they have a child together. Gains and Davidson did not like each other. The defendants, Mathews and Bernard, were very close friends. Bernard has a child with Mathews' sister, Emonie Wallace.Davidson was also a close friend of Underwood and worked ashis,“promoter” for his music and clothing line.
Additionally, McCormack said Bernard, Mathews and Underwood were all formally a part of the local hybrid gang and music collective, “The 900s.”
“These commentsare whatultimately sparked Bernard to ask Gains to beat up Davidson,” McCormack said.
She explained the argument then spiraled from an online dispute to a physical altercation when Bernard called Gains from the Department of Corrections, requesting herto “touch” Christina Davidson, meaningto,“beat her up” on the night ofMarch 27, 2019.
McCormack said that while Gains eventually left without a physical altercation on the night ofMarch 27, the dispute continued to escalate.
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“Within the following days,onApril 1, a fire was startedat Davidson’s apartment,” McCormack said.“Ultimately, Mr. Mathewswas sentto handle the situation, as Gains did not.”
McCormack went on to describe the escalating tension in their community as Davidson and Underwood publicly named Mathews, Gains and Bernard on social media as the individuals responsible for starting a fire at her apartment.
Underwood, who described Davidsonas “hissister” online, went on to release a song, or “dis-track,” titled "F---k You" onApril 3, 2019, which directly accuses Mathews and Gains of starting the fire at Davidson’s apartment.
Additionally, Underwood and Davidson livestreamed a video of a phone call between Underwood and Bernard, who was calling from the Corrections Department, on Facebook, in which Underwood directly threatens Bernard, saying, “I beat your a-- andI’ll do it again. When you’re out of jail I’m going to beat your a-- every time I see you. You’re going to have to shoot me.”
“Bernard’s talking about guns. Underwood is talking about fists.The big takeawayfor mefrom that call is Bernard says he’s (Underwood’s) eradicated.I take that as a death wish, sayingyou (Underwood) are done,” McCormack said.
Continuing in her testimony Wednesdaymorning, McCormack outlined several additional incidents of discourse between Bernard, Mathews and Underwood, citing an instance in which Underwoodallegedly “stole agirl,” from Mathews, a fistfight between Bernard and Underwood before Bernard’s incarceration, and the ongoing perceived “disrespect” from Underwood toward Bernard.
“He feels disrespectedandhe wants it handled. He wants Mr. Mathews to handle it,” McCormack said.
The last witness called to the stand Wednesday, Sheriff's Detective Jon Price spoke about portions of recorded phone calls between Mathews and Bernard as part of the over 1,000 hours of recorded conversation he helped to review amid the investigation.
In the reviewed recorded phone calls between Bernard and Mathews, Price speaks on Bernard’s alleged involvement with the fire at Davidson’s residence when Bernard said to Mathews, “The concert went well, it was a go,” only two days afterthe fire was set.
Price told thecourta “concert” is slang for a violent event. Based on his professional interpretation, Price believes the twoare referringto the fire set.
Additionally, in a phone call between the two defendants in July 2019, Bernardis heard tellingMathewsto “turn off all locations, vacation time at all times.”
Price told the court Wednesday that he interprets that phone call as Bernard telling Mathews to be wary of a phone's ability to track a person'slocation and to remember to turn it off.
Bernardis scheduledto appear in court for his preliminary hearing regarding the murder of Underwood on Thursday morning. Mathews is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment hearing on June 20.
