Witnesses testify about gunfight during trial of man charged in slaying of accomplice

David Collins, a former infantryman who served in Vietnam, recalled hearing four rounds he thought were fired on the street in front of his house in the 2500 block of NW 36 Street, followed by 15 to 20 more rounds.

“That's when the real firefight started,” Collins told a jury hearing the case against Geary Lynn Birdine.

Birdine, 34, of Oklahoma City, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 30, 2011, shooting death of Christopher Bryan Robinson, 25, outside a residence in the 2600 block of SW 38 Street.

Prosecutors allege Robinson, Birdine and a third man intended to rob Mexican drug dealers of a kilo of cocaine valued at $28,000 when Robinson was killed during a gunfight.

Under Oklahoma's felony murder law, a person committing a felony can be charged with first-degree murder if an accomplice dies during the crime.

Also charged in the case is co-defendant Willie Jerome Boyd, whose trial is pending.

Boyd, 35, could testify against Birdine, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Gridley, in his opening statement Tuesday, told jurors Birdine fired at least 11 shots from an assault rifle toward a duplex at SW 38 Street near the corner of Villa Place in southwest Oklahoma City.

Birdine, the prosecutor alleged, was circling the block in his girlfriend's car and returned fire when shots were fired at Robinson and Boyd from inside the duplex.