Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Friday, November 27, 2009 8:32 am

Neighbor Joseph Martin Marsh saw burglars stealing guns from a home and jumped in the suspect’s vehicle to try to retrieve the firearms Oct. 18 on McNiel Drive.

Marsh testified he grabbed one of the firearms as the suspect tried to drive away, knocking him out of the SUV.

“I pulled the trigger on him,” Marsh testified. “Thank God it wasn’t loaded or he wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

Marsh testified Wednesday in a two-hour preliminary hearing where defendant Casey Anthony Smith was charged with aggravated assault of Marsh and aggravated burglary of the home of victim Luther Vinson.

Preliminary hearings were also held for Smith who was accused of breaking into four other homes in September and October. General Sessions Court Judge Ben McFarlin transferred the five burglary and assault charges to the grand jury for possible indictments.

Vinson testified the burglars stole eight firearms,valued at several thousand dollars, from his home

Detective Chris Owens testified he has not been able to recover the firearms.

In another burglary, victim Thomas Gammon of Craddock Lane in Lascassas testified burglars broke into his home, stealing his fiancée’s wedding ring. Detective Scott Tillman recovered the ring from co-defendant Dustin Britt’s girlfriend and returned the ring to the couple the night before their wedding.

Victim Judy Lumpkin of Barfield-Crescent Road testified burglars stole about $3,000 worth of property from her home, including an iPod, laptop computer, wedding ring, camera and camcorder.

Tillman recovered her laptop computer but the other property remains missing.

Co-defendant Dustin E. Britt testified he and Smith decided to break into the homes on Craddock Court and Barfield-Crescent Road because no one was home.

“I kicked in the door” of both homes, Britt said.

They stole the property and left undetected.

Detectives linked them to the burglaries through Smith’s Pathfinder in the Vinson burglary. Murfreesboro Police stopped the vehicle and towed the Pathfinder. When he came to claim it, detectives interviewed him and charged him.

Victim Amanda Bull of Snyder Court testified burglars broke into her home Sept. 29, stealing her son’s X-box, games, controller, camera and books. She said Officer Ron McGee returned her property the same day.

Officer Angela Alexander testified a neighbor saw a man near the Bull home and called police immediately. When she arrived, she spotted Smith matching the description of the man. She asked him what he was doing.

“I just broke into that house,” Smith said.

Smith remains in custody while awaiting the indictments.