Jacqueline Allen told investigators Antonio Shalamar Jacobs and Dewayne Lee Sloan intentionally went after and murdered her husband in retaliation for him shooting into Jacob’s mother’s house in January, an Athens police investigator said during a court hearing Tuesday in Athens.

Police said Darius Allen fired into Jacob’s mother’s home a week before he was fatally shot because he had learned his wife had slept with Jacobs.

The testimony took place during a preliminary hearings for Jacobs and Sloan in Limestone County District Court. The two are charged with capital murder in the case. A preliminary hearing is held to determine whether there is adequate evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

Athens Police Investigator Jonathan Caldwell served as the only witness for the prosecution, though much of his testimony was based on the wife’s statement to police the day after the shooting.

Caldwell said the wife admitted to fighting with her husband and leaving him to stay with a friend the night before the murder. She then went to a house in west Limestone, where she claimed Jacobs and a white male, later identified as Sloan, discussed the shooting of Jacobs’ mother’s house.

“Mr. Jacobs knew or suspected Darius of shooting at his house and had told Jackie he was going to do something about it — you know, ‘eye for an eye’-type thing,” Caldwell said.

The investigator said Allen told Jacobs and Sloan her husband was at Athens-Limestone Hospital the day of the shooting.

“The outside cameras (at the hospital) show a silver Nissan Altima come into the parking lot, turns around, travels back the other way with its headlights off, just parking lights on, passing right in front of where Darius Allen’s van is parked,” Caldwell said.

Investigators believe the car was driven by Sloan. After some time, Caldwell said, Sloan exited the vehicle, entered the hospital and spoke with a receptionist before leaving.

“You can tell he walks right to the area where the silver Altima is parked,” Caldwell said, though he later testified that due to low lighting and distance from the camera, he could not say for certain Sloan entered the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Video-chat

Caldwell said Jacqueline Allen told investigators she used Facebook Messenger to video-chat via smartphone with Jacobs as he sat in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The video-chat continued as Darius Allen left the hospital, with security cameras showing the van Darius drove being followed by the silver Altima as it exits the parking lot, Caldwell said.

A gas station security camera also recorded the chase, though Caldwell said it was still undeterminable who was driving as the vehicles turned off West Market Street and onto South Hine Street.

“You can tell they’re trying to catch up with (the van), and when the Altima goes to turn on South Hine Street, it almost has an accident with another vehicle. The (almost struck) vehicle ends up getting behind Darius, and the Altima gets behind that vehicle,” Caldwell said.

Jacqueline Allen also told investigators the video call ended prior to the shooting. But, in a call she received after the shooting, Jacobs admitted to having shot Darius Allen twice, Caldwell said.

Eight shell casings were found at the scene of the shooting, at U.S. 72 and Brownsferry Street. When Julian Hendrix, defense attorney for Jacobs, questioned how a shooter could shoot eight times from a vehicle and know they had struck their victim twice, Caldwell said he believed Jacobs had exited the car to shoot Darius Allen.

“I believe he knows for sure he hit him twice, but I believe that’s when Mr. Allen starts pressing on the gas and began to speed off, and I believe he was shooting in the direction of him as he started to take off,” Caldwell said.

Darius Allen was able to travel down U.S. 72 before his vehicle left the road near Reynard Street, striking a utility pole and traveling to a ditch.

Neither Jacobs nor Sloan admitted to shooting anyone, though Sloan allegedly confirmed to investigators they followed Darius Allen as he left the hospital. Caldwell said the Altima seen on the security footage was later found in Jacobs’ driveway by investigators.

Hendrix said there were “a lot of assumptions” in Caldwell’s testimony, particularly given there was no firearm or DNA found or evidence suggesting the Altima continued following the Chrysler van after it left sight of the gas station security camera.

“Outside of her statement, particularly with the camera and phone, what other factual basis do you have, other than her statement, that Mr. Jacobs actually did any shooting?” Hendrix asked, referring to the phone records showing a video chat between Jacobs and Jacqueline Allen immediately before the shooting.

Limestone County District Judge Matthew Huggins found probable cause for the case to go to the grand jury.

Caldwell said Jacqueline Allen has not been charged in relation to the murder but that charges were still being discussed.