People who were at Burnsville bar testify at murder trial

Jurors in Shavelle Chavez Nelson's first-degree murder trial heard Wednesday from people who saw parts of what happened the night Palagor (Paul) Jobi was shot to death outside Nina's Grill in Burnsville.

Rebecca Chenoweth trembled — hard — as she entered the Dakota County courtroom in Hastings and broke into sobs partway through her testimony.

But her voice was clear and strong when she told defense attorney Brenda Lightbody: "I seen him shoot that poor child. I seen that poor child fall to the ground."

The fact that Nelson shot and killed Jobi, 23, in the early morning hours of Sept. 22, 2013, isn't in dispute; he has admitted to that. What is in dispute is whether he did it in self-defense or with premeditation.

Chenoweth said she'd gone to Nina's to meet a friend. She encountered a man she later identified as Nelson when he approached the table where she and her friends were sitting and asked if she was a prosecutor. Her friend thought he'd said prostitute and took offense.

"He started talking very inappropriately to me," Chenoweth said. "About how good he was, the size of his package."

When Chenoweth left Nina's about 1:55 a.m., she "was tipsy," she admitted. She saw Nelson and another man arguing outside but didn't pay much attention.

"As I opened the door, he pulled out a gun and just started shooting," she said.

She heard two shots, she said, then maybe another six to eight shots. By that time, she was cowering in her vehicle, popping her head up periodically to see what was happening. After the second set of shots, "That's when I saw the deceased fall to the ground."

Burnsville police detective Dawn Johnson recounted the case point by point. She narrated surveillance video from outside the bar that showed a crowd milling around, then scattering, diving to the ground and ducking for cover when the first shots were heard. The video had no audio. It did not show the shooting or the aftermath.

Wod Talian had gone to Nina's with his brother and Jobi, their cousin, that night. Talian said he was the last of the three to walk out of the bar and saw Nelson and Jobi arguing a few steps from the door.

"Why was you talking to my girl?" he heard Nelson ask.

Jobi punched Nelson. Nelson stumbled back and ended up in front of Chenoweth's vehicle. Talian said he heard shots and dropped down on the passenger side. When he got up and ran around the back of the SUV, Jobi was facedown on the pavement. Talian said he tackled Nelson and swatted the gun from his hand, and it fired again. Someone jumped on Talian's back and pulled him off. Nelson fled.

Cassandra Anderson, a waitress at Nina's, said she knew Nelson as "Cali" and saw him two or three times a week at the bar. She was inside and didn't see the shooting or the aftermath but said Nelson called her on her cellphone at 2:43 a.m. Sept. 22.

"He asked me if I was OK," she said. "He'd heard there was a shooting and wanted to make sure I was OK."