Two men with a troubled history end up at the same late-night party at a southwest Lawrence apartment complex. They greet each other, go into a back room alone for several minutes, then rejoin the rest of the party in the living room.

Then, without warning, one of the men, Lafayette Damon Ester Cosby, walks out of the room, comes back in with a gun and shoots and kills the other, Robert Tyrone Martin, as Martin sits on a couch.

That was the scene witnesses described Tuesday in a preliminary hearing for Cosby, who’s charged with first-degree murder in the April 4 shooting at Jefferson Commons, 2511 W. 31st St.

“All I saw was Lafayette walk in front of me and shoot him,” said Andrea Garrison, one of three eyewitnesses who testified Tuesday.

District Judge Jack Murphy ruled at the end of the hearing that enough evidence existed for Cosby, 24, to stand trial. The judge scheduled a four-day jury trial to begin July 26.

In 1997, Cosby stabbed and killed one of Martin’s friends, David E. Walker II, in a fight after a party at Colony Woods Apartments, 1301 W. 24th St. A jury later acquitted Cosby, finding he acted in self-defense.

Some of Martin’s acquaintances have questioned whether that history had anything to do with the recent shooting. But Tuesday’s hearing yielded no clues to a possible motive — other than one witness testifying that, shortly after the shooting, he heard Cosby say something about needing to accept Jesus.

Coroner Erik Mitchell testified that Martin, 28, had marijuana and cocaine in his system. He testified Martin had three entry gunshot wounds, including one to the heart that Mitchell said would be impossible to survive.

Still, Martin’s friends and family members could be heard expressing their anger in the courtroom after witnesses testified they didn’t immediately call police.

“I was confused. I didn’t want to be involved in it,” said witness Bouba Sembene, who lives in the apartment where the shooting happened.

Another witness, Dylan Stueve, 22, Topeka, testified that he encountered Cosby while walking down a street in Topeka the day after the shooting. He said he didn’t know Cosby but Cosby approached him, said he’d been praying, and said “I’m supposed to walk with you.”

Stueve said he kept walking with Cosby and that Cosby eventually admitted killing someone in Lawrence. Police later arrested Cosby in Topeka after Stueve called police.

Martin, a 1994 Lawrence High School graduate, was described in his obituary as a self-employed musician. One courtroom observer wore a T-shirt with a picture of Martin and his nickname, “Man Man.”

Martin’s family members laughed out loud when Cosby’s attorney, Greg Robinson, entered a plea of not guilty.

Several of Martin’s friends and family members declined comment after the hearing.

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