Day two of William ‘Polo’ Edwards’ murder trial centers on evidence linking him to killing, GPS tracking that led to his capture

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Evidence left behind at a Clinton crime scene last year appears to link William ‘Polo’ Edwards to the killing of 45-year-old Robert Davis, according to a crime scene investigator who discovered matching bullets at the former social media host’s home and vehicle that he used to elude law enforcement.

Edwards is charged with first-degree murder.

On Tuesday, former Clinton police officer Robert Watts told the jury he found six spent shell casings at the Hannah Drive home where the deadly confrontation took place.

The casings found near Davis’ body were 9-millimeter Lugers, two different brands.

Watts told the jury he found live rounds from one of those brands at Edwards’ Jackson home after a search and discovered another live round in the vehicle Edwards was driving when police apprehended him hundreds of miles away in New Orleans.

In her opening remarks, Assistant Hinds County District Attorney Gwen Agho said Edwards and Davis were involved with the same woman, Shadow Robinson, and when Davis answered the door instead of her that day, Edwards shot the community activist nine times.

Defense attorney Tom Fortner told the jury Edwards was at his apartment in Jackson the whole time and has evidence that will prove it.

Fortner also pushed hard to suggest that crime scene evidence could have been tainted because of people who remained in the house while investigators catalogued evidence.

Former Clinton police detective Brett Jones told the jury the painstaking process they went through to try and locate Edwards after the killing.

He said they went through four different numbers for Edwards, even reaching out to the cell phone providers to ping that phone’s last location.

One phone was deactivated the day after Davis was killed.

However, the one that helped lead them to him came after Edwards called his mother and talked about turning himself in.

“That line was actually still active. And it was still actively pinging in the French Quarter area of New Orleans, Louisiana,” Jones said. “I noticed that on these active pings on the 701 number, the meters of certainty were within 100 meters. They’re very, very close. So I reached out and contacted members of the Louisiana State Police. One of the members was assigned to the US Marshal Task Force. And I provided him the information of the active ping on the 701 number. They were actually able to locate the black [Ford F450] at a gas station, matching the description given by Mr. Edwards. And they were able to locate Mr. Edwards walking out of a gas station where they took him in custody.”

Circuit Judge Faye Peterson dismissed one of the jurors in the case Tuesday because that person was asleep for more than 40 minutes while someone was testifying.

That means one of the two alternates chosen at the start of the trial will now serve in that person’s spot.

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