LARGO — Bertha Bostic watched as her grandson slipped into a car waiting for him in the driveway about 4:30 a.m. on June, 28, 2013.
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Hours later, police told her he was dead. They found Naykee Bostic’s body, riddled with 25 bullets, in the Old Southeast neighborhood about four miles away.
As investigators lifted him from the ground that Sunday morning, they found his phone wedged underneath him. It would soon reveal information that led police to the suspected shooter: Oscar Fowler.
Fowler’s first-degree murder trial began Wednesday. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
This is not the first time Fowler, known as Big O, is in court for Bostic’s murder. In 2015, his trial ended in a hung jury after jurors deliberated for six hours and couldn’t come to a verdict.
On Wednesday, Assistant State Attorney Richard Ripplinger told the new jury about the evidence linking Fowler to the shooting.
There was Clifford Frazier, who told police he and Fowler were at a strip club in the early morning hours of July 28, 2013. Afterward, he dropped Fowler off at his house at 2324 Oakdale St S. But minutes later, Fowler called him and said someone had robbed him, Ripplinger said. Frazier headed back to Fowler’s place. Suspecting Bostic was behind the robbery, Fowler tried calling him with Frazier’s phone.
Ripplinger also told the 12-member jury about Marlon Hall, who questioned Fowler after rumors swirled that he killed Bostic, known as Spanky. According to Hall, Fowler said: "Ain’t nobody going to take nothing from me."
Fowler’s Nissan, prosecutors also said, matched the description of the car Bostic’s grandmother saw in her driveway, and cell phone tower records placed Fowler and Bostic at the same location when residents in the Old Southeast heard gunshots and screams.
"When you hear all the evidence, you will see that that man is guilty," Ripplinger said.
But defense attorney Jason Bard told the jury the case was built on a "shoddy law enforcement investigation" as well as "jailhouse snitches who are looking to save their skin."
Yes, he acknowledged, Fowler and Bostic were friends and at one point Bostic had cooked cocaine for Fowler to sell. But officers didn’t find his DNA or fingerprints at the crime scene. And when they searched Fowler’s car, they also didn’t find any proof that Bostic had been inside.
As far as Fowler’s phone being close to Bostic’s during the time of the murder, Bard said his client’s phone was stolen the night before during the robbery.
Bard also raised questions about the credibility of the state’s witnesses, some of which are awaiting sentencing dates for federal charges. Frazier, Bard said, is facing up to 40 years in prison.
"What is Mr. Frazier doing to try to better his situation?" he told the jury. "He’s going to take the stand right Mariobet there."
The trial resumes Thursday.
Contact Laura C. Morel at lmorel@tampabay.com. Follow @lauracmorel.
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