Lawyer seeking retrial questions cherry-eye witness’ account of ’96 killing

On Feb. 6, 1996 at about 10:30 a.m., George Bryant, 33, was shot to death outside his home at 7009 Monroe St.

Inside, police found Oscar Bridges, bound with duct tape and shot in the head. Bryant’s 4-year-old daughter Kayla was home at the time. Ricky Kidd and Marcus Merrill were both convicted of the crime in 1997 and sentenced to life without parole.

Now, attorney Sean O’Brien is raising new questions about Kidd’s guilt and seeking a new trial. Yesterday, he brought the original eyewitness, Richard Harris, into federal court to recap what he saw that February morning. Here’s how he remembers it:

Harris was chilling with his homey Big Mike at Mike’s house on Monroe Street. Dudes were watching The Young and the Restless and smoking a blunt. They got the munchies so they polished off a pot of gumbo. It was good, but it wasn’t enough. So Harris got up off the couch and wandered down the street toward his mama’s house to see what she had.

As he walks by George Bryant’s place, he sees the garage door start to open. Then Bryant, who is Harris’ drug supplier, bolts out the door, running for his life and screaming “Somebody help!”