MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Mid-South mother is bracing herself to relive some painful memories as her son’s accused killer heads to trial for the second time.
Coykin Boswell was convicted in 2016 of the murder of 23-year-old Kadrian Woods at a Parkway Village apartment complex in 2013. Boswell had accused Woods of giving him counterfeit money when the two were gambling.
Woods’ mother, Dorothy Henderson, testified at Boswell’s murder trial but will now have to testify at a second trial after Boswell’s conviction was overturned on appeal in 2017.
“I felt that everything went okay and when they hit me with another trial it was just devastating,” Henderson said.
According to court documents, Boswell claimed he only shot Woods because he thought Woods was going to push him off a balcony.
In the 2016 trial, the defense asked the judge to instruct the jury to consider the possibility of self-defense, but the now-retired judge refused. An appellate judge noted “the trial court erred when it failed to instruct the jury as to self-defense.”
It’s a mistake not only costing taxpayers another trial, but also costing a family another painful trip down memory lane.
“We was rebuilding a life. Now to stop in the middle, take off work, go through all this back over again, it’s just not right,” said Henderson.
Boswell’s new trial begins Monday. He has a different attorney than the one he had last time, but his attorney declined to comment.
