Murder trial to start Tuesday

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial of a Havelock man charged with first-degree murder.

Gary Hayes, 25, is charged with the April 2008 murder of Odell Foster, 29, of Harlowe, in the parking lot of the Bayside Restaurant in Havelock.

The trial is scheduled for Craven County Superior Court in New Bern with Judge Ben Alford presiding.

A second man, Moises H. Rodriguez, 23, of Havelock, was initially charged by Havelock police with murder. His charge was later reduced to accessory after the fact. He was released from jail and given credit for time served. He is expected to testify in Hayes’ murder trial.

Foster was shot and killed around 3 a.m. April 26 outside the restaurant on East Main Street. An autopsy indicated Foster died of three gunshot wounds — one to the chest and two below the waist.

On the morning of the shooting, police near the restaurant heard gunshots in the parking lot and saw two cars speed away. One was stopped on Pineview Road, and police arrested Hayes and Rodriquez.

The second was driven by friends of Foster, who drove to Carteret General Hospital in Morehead City where Foster was pronounced dead.

Lawmen took a gun and empty shell casings from the car that Hayes and Rodriguez were driving.

Havelock Police Chief G. Wayne Cyrus said last year that the suspects and Foster apparently talked at a club before the shooting.

Foster was convicted of manslaughter in Carteret County on March 3, 2000, and was sentenced to 5 years and 11 months in prison.  He was released from prison July 30, 2003, according to the N.C. Department of Correction.

District Attorney Scott Thomas and Assistant District Attorney Ann Kirby will prosecute the case. Onslow County defense lawyer Wally Paramore Jr. is representing Hayes.