A high-speed chase through

Fayetteville that resulted in a deadly crash and the death of a pet doctor

on his way home from work would never have happened if police had not

chased twin robbery suspects, a defense attorney told a Fayette Superior

Court jury Monday.

Attorney Lloyd Walker told

jurors in the murder trial of Marvin Edwin Mitchell, 23, of Jonesboro,

that it was the police chase following a robbery at Ingles Supermarket

that led to the fatal crash at Jeff Davis Drive and Ga. Highway 85 a year

ago.

Mitchell is accused of murder

for committing the crimes that led up to the fatal auto collision with

an innocent bystander's vehicle after he and his twin brother allegedly

fled the scene of the robbery while being pursued by police officers.

Police have said Mitchell's

twin brother, Melvin, was driving the vehicle that collided with a Nissan

Pathfinder driven by Jason A. Trotman, a Union City veterinarian, who

later died from injuries sustained in the wreck.

Marvin Mitchell is charged

with three counts of felony murder, two counts of false imprisonment,

two counts of kidnapping and one count each of armed robbery and possession

of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

Melvin Mitchell also faces

the murder and armed robbery charges in addition to several traffic-related

charges, but is not being tried at this time.

A Fayetteville grocery store

employee testified in court Monday that a masked gunman leaped over a

counter and forced her to hand over cash from the store's safe just before

the store closed on Easter Sunday almost a year ago.

"He put a gun to my chest

and said to 'Give me your money,'" said Teresa Garner, who was the

front end manager at the Ingles grocery store on Ga. Highway 92 south

at the time of the incident.

Garner said the masked gunman

told her to hand over all the money from the store's safe. She said the

money was loaded into a black fabric bag the gunman produced, and the

store's daily deposit which was inside a clear white and green bag was

also put into the gunman's bag.

Assistant District Attorney

Dan Hiatt said in his opening statements that police found the money bag

in the Mitchells' vehicle along with the guns used in the robbery and

the masks they wore while in the store.

Garner said after she assisted

the gunman with the safe, he forced her to leave the office area and to

lie down on the floor, Garner said.

Garner also testified that

a second masked gunman entered the store at the same time as the other

gunman and took control of the employees who were inside.

Prosecutors also plan to show

the jury videotape of an alleged confession Marvin Mitchell made to police

after the incident. Defense attorney Lloyd Walker, in his opening statements,

asked the jury to consider his client's frame of mind since that interrogation

occurred several hours after the motor vehicle crash.