OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) - Former Auburn tailback Mike Dyer testified that his handgun was used in the robbery allegedly committed by Antonio Goodwin and three other teammates.
The
Opelika-Auburn News reported that Dyer said Wednesday he and other Auburn players were smoking spice, or synthetic marijuana, and drinking beer at current wide receiver DeAngelo Benton's resident the night of the alleged robbery in March 2011.
He and Benton testified that Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens and Dakota Mosley talked about possibly robbing someone while watching a Los Angeles Lakers game, drinking and smoking spice at Benton's residence with other teammates on March 10, 2011.
"They said they were going to hit a lick," said Dyer, using a slang term for robbery. .
Mosley, Kitchens and Mike McNeil are tentatively scheduled for trial on June 11. All four players face multiple counts of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and third-degree theft of property stemming from an alleged home invasion.
Dyer, the BCS championship game MVP two seasons ago, transferred to Arkansas State after ending last season on suspension.
He testified for the prosecution in Goodwin's trial and Lee County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Hughes twice admonished him to only answer the questions asked.
Benton and former Auburn defensive back Neiko Thorpe also testified.
"I never heard them say they were going to, I heard them say they needed to" commit a robbery, Benton said.
Dyer said he tried to talk Goodwin out of participating.
"To be honest, Antonio wasn't the type of guy to do that," Dyer said of Goodwin, now playing for Arizona Western College.
Dyer said the three approached him about coming with them because he owned a 45-caliber handgun, recovered by police after the robbery.
He said he told them at Benton's that he wouldn't participate, and declined again when Goodwin asked him at his home.
Dyer said he believes Goodwin took the gun from the couch where it was kept.
Thorpe said Goodwin, Mosley and Kitchens appeared intoxicated when they got to the apartment he shared with McNeil.
Thorpe said the four left and he did not see them again that night.
Benton and Dyer said the players regularly used spice, which was legal and sold at local stores in early 2011.
"We used it all the time," Benton said.
Defense attorney Lauryn Lauderdale has argued in court filings that the drug use had impaired Goodwin at the time of the alleged robbery. He has pleaded not guilty.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
