The state continued to call witnesses Wednesday in its case against Alexandria Griste who is on trial this week for shooting and killing her boyfriend, Cory Lyles.

On June 7, 2022, police responded to a house on South Lamar Boulevard after Griste called 911 around 10:30 p.m. They found 29-year-old Lyles dead in the driveway from a gunshot wound. Griste, 31, was arrested shortly after midnight and charged with first-degree murder.

Griste, through her attorney, Steve Farese, is claiming she shot Lyles in self-defense. She told investigators that Lyles was angry and aggressively coming at her. She said she fired three warning shots but Lyles didn’t stop advancing, and then shot him in the upper left chest area.

The jury heard testimony Wednesday morning from a neighbor, Oxford Police Officer Ryan Baker and Mississippi Deputy Medical Examiner Ariane Andorfer.

Andorfer testified that Lyles was shot once in the upper left chest area and the bullet went down through the heart and exited from the lower right back area. She said the path of the bullet showed that the shooter was likely shooting downward at Lyles. She also said Lyles had several smaller cuts due to shrapnel, possibly from glass. She said the shot was fatal and that he likely died within a minute of being shot. She testified that Lyles had alcohol and marijuana in his system. His blood alcohol was .11 percent. The legal limit is .08. She said Lyles was likely inebriated but not incapacitated.

The jury also listened to a 2-hour interview with Griste and Investigator Scott Hollowell after she was taken into custody. In the recorded interview, Hollowell read Griste her Miranda rights and Griste signed a waiver, agreeing to talk to investigators without an attorney present.

Griste said she and Lyles had been at odds for a couple of weeks. On June 7, she was at home and received a text from Lyles asking if she wanted any food from McDonald’s for her and her two young children. She said she didn’t even realize he had left home and was mad he left without saying anything.

The two continued to argue via text messages. She said she went into her bedroom and retrieved the gun from her sock drawer before Lyles came home. She said when he arrived she went outside and after exchanging words, Lyles threw down the bag of food. She said she walked back into the house and told Lyles to leave but he continued to walk towards her. She said she fired a couple of warning shots and shut the door but Lyles continued to walk toward the house and she fired at him. She said she meant to shoot him to stop him but “didn’t mean to kill nobody.”

Hollowell asked Griste why she didn’t call the police if she felt unsafe knowing Lyles was coming to the house.

“Let’s face it, cops don’t do sh**,” Griste said on the recording.

District Attorney Ben Creekmore presented a past police report of a verbal altercation between Lyles and Griste in 2021 where Griste had allegedly left Lyles at Walmart. The two agreed to separate for the night and no charges were filed in that case.

The trial continues today at the Lafayette County Courthouse.