Dustin D. Walker in Douglas County District Court during his first trial in the death of Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts.

Asia Morrison picked up her newly purchased Ruger 9mm handgun from a Lawrence pawn shop on Feb. 22, 2014.

She and Dustin Walker, who was her on-and-off boyfriend and the father of two of her children, decided she would buy the gun for protection. At the time she was living in a one-story home in Topeka with her three children.

“I lived in a pretty rough neighborhood, and it was mainly for my safety,” she said.

On March 8, 2014, Morrison learned from friends and police that Walker was arrested earlier that day as a suspect in the shooting death of 39-year-old Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts.

After talking with police and friends Morrison said she felt the need to double check that her handgun was still in a shoe box on a high shelf in her closet. It wasn’t.

“I panicked,” she said. “I panicked. I was really scared.”

Dustin D. Walker in Douglas County District Court during his first trial in the death of Lawrence resident Patrick Roberts.

Patrick Roberts

Immediately Morrison called police to tell them about the situation.

On Wednesday Morrison testified in Douglas County District Court, telling jurors about the gun purchase, her relationship with Walker and her recollection of his arrest and the subsequent investigation.

Walker, 31, faces a single count of felony murder, which is a killing committed during the commission of a felony.

Walker is accused of breaking into Roberts’ duplex with another man, Archie Robinson, in the early-morning hours of March 8, 2014, to steal money and marijuana, police said.

During the incident Walker shot and killed Roberts, police said.

During her opening statement Tuesday prosecutor Amy McGowan told jurors the evidence shows Walker forcibly entered Roberts’ home with the intention to steal his property. Ultimately, she said, the state’s case “is going to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant committed the aggravated burglary, which is the underlying felony to the felony murder.”

Defense Attorney Blake Glover told the jury the evidence illustrates a different scenario, one in which Walker and Robinson did not break into Roberts’ home, but went there to buy marijuana, thus nullifying the underlying felony.

“At the end of all this, what the evidence is going to show is that this was not an aggravated burglary; it was a drug deal gone bad,” he said.

Charges of aggravated burglary and felony murder were first filed against Walker in February 2015. The jury found him guilty of aggravated burglary, the underlying felony, but not of the murder charge.

In December 2015 Walker was tried again, facing a single charge of felony murder. The jury in that second case failed to reach a decision.

Robinson, on the other hand, was found guilty in March 2015 of both aggravated burglary and first-degree murder in Roberts’ death. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 20 years.

On Wednesday, the second full day of testimony in Walker’s third trial, Roberts’ mother, Lawrence Police officers and others testified alongside Morrison.

Roberts’ mother and roommate, Marilyn Howard, said she knew her son smoked marijuana but not that he sold the drug. She said she discussed her disapproval of drug use with him before.

“I told him I didn’t like it because it was illegal,” she told jurors.

Howard said she recalled going to sleep shortly before 3 a.m. on March 8, 2014, only to be awakened by a shout from her youngest son, Wayne Roberts, who was also living in the duplex. He was telling her to call the police.

As she left her bedroom Howard said she saw Wayne Roberts on the ground with someone she didn’t recognize.

On Tuesday Wayne Roberts testified that he was wrestling with a man armed with a handgun, previously identified as Walker, when he called for his mother.

Howard said at the time she could also see Roberts, who was injured.

“I could see him sitting on the floor … kind of just leaning over,” she said. “I heard Pat say ‘he has a gun’ and ‘I’ve been shot.'”

Howard said she quickly turned around, heading back into her room to fetch her phone when she heard a gunshot.

Wayne Roberts said Tuesday that after that shot Walker dropped the handgun and ran out of the duplex with Robinson. Police arrived on the scene shortly afterward.

Both Walker and Robinson were arrested in the area that morning, officers testified; both had blood on their pants, but no stolen cash or drugs on them.

After Howard testified, the prosecution called Lawrence Police Detective Zach Thomas to the stand. He told jurors his investigation led him to believe two shots had, in fact, been fired at the scene. One shot hit Roberts in the abdomen, and a second struck the duplex’s ceiling.

Thomas also said, considering damage to the duplex’s front door and possible foot impressions, that he believed the door had been forced open.

“All those collectively, looking at the door, led me to believe it had been breached,” he said.

However, when defense attorney Glover asked if Thomas could definitively say when the door was damaged, Thomas said he could not.

When questioned further by Glover, Thomas also said the door frame, rather than the door itself, was not damaged in any way that might indicate a break-in.

Thomas also told jurors he found marijuana — a larger amount than would typically be expected for personal use — and $405 in cash in Roberts’ room.

Walker’s trial is set to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday. He remains an inmate at the Douglas County Jail in lieu of $1 million cash or surety bond.