Bradenton murder defendant Frank Brice's ex-girlfriend testifies he said he messed up

MANATEE -- Murder defendant Frank Brice's ex-girlfriend testified Thursday that Brice told her later on the day of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Teria'le Rawls last July, that he had messed up.

"He said he f'd up," said Fabiola Evstache, the mother of one of Brice's children.

"There was a shooting," she said Brice told her. "A girl got shot."

On July 28, Rawls was shot in the head during an exchange of gunfire in the parking lot outside the Bradenton Carmike Royal Palm 20 theater, 5126 26th St. E., near U.S. 301 at State Road 70. She died 10 minutes later as she was being rushed to the hospital by her sister and friends.

Brice, 19, of Palmetto, who faces charges of being a principal to second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by someone under age 24 previously found delinquent, was arrested July 29 after turning himself in after detectives obtained a warrant for his arrest in Rawls' death.

If convicted, Brice faces life in prison.

Closing arguments are expected to start at 9 a.m. Friday. Afterward, the case will be handed to the jury to decide. .

Brice had taken Evstache's car to parties at the Touch of Class nightclub and later to the movie theater, Evstache testified. Brice later returned it when she demanded he do so. She had been upset after finding a picture of him with another girl on Twitter and refused to take him home.

Assistant State Attorney Rory Zinna asked about Brice's phone going off constantly, and what if anything Brice said to her.

That's when he told Evstache that a girl had been shot, Evstache testified.

Defense attorney Terra Carroll later questioned Evstache about being upset over the Twitter photo and allegedly learning from detectives that another girl was also pregnant with Brice's child.

Evstache told Carroll she thought Brice was referring to cheating when he became upset, but she admitted to previously telling detectives otherwise.

"I didn't know what he meant when he said that," she told Carroll.

Another witness, Gus Jackson, 17, testified that he saw Frank Brice holding a gun moments before shots were fired outside the movie theater.

"He was walking around with a gun," Jackson said.

Jackson, who is Rawls' cousin, said he had been driving his mother's black Ford Taurus when he and others in a white Infiniti had met up with Rawls and her sister after a party at the Touch of Class nightclub.

When the group ended up at the movie theater, Jackson recalled seeing several people he recognized, including Brice.

Brice was the only person he saw with a gun that day, he said.

During her cross examination, Carroll noted that in a sworn deposition Wednesday, Jackson said he did not know if Brice had fired a gun the night Rawls was killed.

Jackson said he was only presuming that Jackson was the shooter.

Testimony concluded Thursday with the defense not presenting a case.

A second defendant, Jasper Dudley, faces identical charges, and will stand trial separately during a two-week period beginning April 27.

Brice and Dudley are in custody at the Manatee County jail.

Jessica De Leon, Herald law enforcement reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7049. You can follow her on Twitter@JDeLeon1012.

This story was originally published March 5, 2015 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Bradenton murder defendant Frank Brice's ex-girlfriend testifies he said he messed up."