A judge decided against lowering the first-degree murder charge against 46-year-old Lumumba Sayers Sr. following a preliminary hearing in an Adams County courtroom on Friday.

The former MMA fighter appeared significantly underweight compared to when he was arrested in connection to the fatal shooting August. He was also strapped with a sling on his right arm for an unidentified injury that happened in the Adams County jail.

Sayers Sr. shook his head as 17th Judicial District Judge Jeffrey Ruff read his decision to keep the five charges against Sayers Sr. in the murder of 28-year-old Malcolm Watson at his son’s fifth birthday party on Aug. 10 in Commerce City.

He is facing charges of first-degree murder, two counts of felony menacing and two counts of tampering with evidence. He will be arraigned later this spring.

The former anti-violence activist is suspected of walking up and shooting Watson once in the head and four times in the torso at the birthday party, with both police and prosecutors saying the incident was an act of revenge.

The shooting came nearly a year after Sayers Sr.’s 23-year-old son, Lumumba Sayers Jr., was shot and killed on Aug. 19, 2023 at 28th and Welton streets in Denver. The quadruple-victim shooting left Sayers Jr. and 25-year-old Gulian Musiwa dead.

Suspect Tyrell Braxton, 24, was arrested a month after the shooting on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree assault; the police believe that Braxton and Watson were friends.

Multiple witnesses also alleged that Sayers Sr. pointed a gun at a bystander, took keys from Watson’s body and attempted to place the handgun under him, according to the arrest affidavit.

In the hearing Friday, Sayers Sr.’s defense attorney, Megan Downing, argued that no items were found directly on Watson’s body, despite witnesses claiming that Sayers Sr. attempted to place things on him.

The gun was found 10-to-15 feet away from Watson.

The defense claimed that Sayers Sr. was checking the pulse of Watson when he was ducked down at his body, later asking police if the “kid had died.”

Furthermore, Downing argued that a gunshot residue kit test done on the defendant after the shooting did not show any gun residue on his hands.

Downing suggested the potential of a second shooter or an act of self-defense from Sayers Sr., with the latter claiming that Watson drew a gun on him first. 

Some witnesses also described a second shooter at the party, though Deputy District Attorney Laura Anderson argued that those witnesses were shocked by gunfire and were moving quickly.

Anderson went on to state that after the shooting, Sayers Sr. walked over to a vehicle, talked to his daughter and then returned with a different gun that he allegedly placed near Watson.

According to Anderson, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation found that the second handgun — which had not been fired and did not have a bullet in the chamber — was purchased by the former roommate of Sayers Jr.

The actual murder weapon matching the casings at the scene has not been found, with Anderson theorizing that Sayers Sr. handed it to his daughter shortly after the shooting.

Downing sought to drop the charge to second-degree murder, claiming that there was not enough probable cause to charge Sayers Sr. with premediated murder. 

She also insisted that the tampering with evidence charges and menacing charges should also be dropped, arguing there is no proof that the suspect actually placed items on Watson and or that he threatened anyone else. In fact, she said, cellphone footage recorded on a bystander’s phone showed that Sayers Sr. was punched by a family member of Watson following the shooting.

“There is no need for a detailed plan to have intent and deliberation,” Ruff said. “Intent and deliberation can happen in a matter of moments.”

One side of the packed courtroom was escorted out by deputies, breathing sighs of relief that the charges had not changed.

On the other side of the aisle, where family and friends of Sayers Sr. sat, some shed tears.