Lafayette Damon Ester Cosby spoke up at his first court appearance Tuesday to challenge a prosecutor’s claim that the shooting death he’s charged with was unprovoked.

“This was a completely unprovoked act of violence,” Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney told Judge Pro Tem Peggy Kittel in Douglas County District Court.

“I think that is yet to be proven,” Cosby, 24, later told the judge, speaking by videoconference from the Douglas County Jail, where he remains in custody.

Witnesses have told police the shooting of Robert T. Martin early Sunday in an apartment building at Jefferson Commons, 2511 W. 31st St., happened without a struggle or any forewarning. Martin was friends with a man Cosby stabbed and killed in 1997 — a stabbing jurors later found to be self-defense — and some people are questioning whether tension between Martin and Cosby was a reason for the shooting.

“At this point, any comment about motive would be speculation,” Kenney said.

Cosby’s remarks in court came after Kenney asked Kittel to set Cosby’s bond at $750,000. Kenney cited the seriousness of the charge — one count of first-degree murder — as one reason for the high bond, and Kittel granted the request.

Cosby was largely silent the rest of the hearing except to answer questions and say that he didn’t have money to hire an attorney.

Defense attorney Greg Robinson has been appointed to represent Cosby, who is scheduled to be back in court Monday afternoon to schedule a preliminary hearing.

The shooting happened about 4:30 a.m., according to investigators, and police have said it wasn’t reported until shortly before 7 a.m. when a resident of the apartment came home and found Martin dead. But on Tuesday, the mother of a Lawrence woman who witnessed the shooting came forward to say her daughter called police dispatchers on a cell phone shortly afterward.

Lafayette Damon Ester Cosby

Gina Moten, mother of witness Brianna Moten, said her daughter panicked after the shooting and gave a false name to dispatchers. Gina Moten said her daughter didn’t recall exact details of what she said during the call.

“Nobody knew who was shooting. Nobody knew whether they were going to get shot,” Gina Moten said. “She (Brianna Moten) said she saw the flash from the gun. She felt the heat from the gun. She said she doesn’t know whether she ran through the door or whether she was pushed through the door.”

Moten said her daughter then left Lawrence. She didn’t know police were looking for her and another man, Alrick A. Johnson, until police put out a news alert asking for the public’s help finding them, Gina Moten said. The two are not suspects, police said.

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