Defense says withheld video could bolster Guyton self-defense claim

A video the defense says was never turned over could reshape Cody Guyton’s retrial and the way Buncombe County judges the case against him. Guyton’s lawyer argues the footage supports his self-defense claim in the shooting death of 27-year-old Mackenzie McCord Strickland, turning a disputed piece of evidence into a test of how fairly the case is being handled.

Strickland was shot on Southern Street in Asheville on Jan. 18, 2023, and police said he was found with several gunshot wounds. Guyton was arrested the next day and charged with first-degree murder in what became Asheville’s first reported homicide of 2023. Police later charged Jamel Marquis Fisher, 26, with felony accessory after the fact and carrying a concealed gun in connection with the killing.

The defense motion, filed in March, says the withheld video could have changed the outcome because it allegedly shows Guyton’s actions in a way that matches his testimony at trial. That matters because the first trial ended in a mistrial on June 11, 2025, after jurors reported they were split 5-7 on guilt. Judge Gary Gavenus declared the mistrial near 4 p.m. after the second full day of deliberations, sending the case back for another round of courtroom scrutiny.

The stakes go beyond one defendant and one victim’s family. If the defense is right that key evidence was not disclosed, the dispute could affect how the retrial proceeds and whether earlier proceedings are viewed as reliable. North Carolina’s discovery sanctions law, G.S. 15A-910, gives judges a wide range of options when a party fails to comply with disclosure rules, including ordering disclosure, granting a continuance, excluding evidence, declaring a mistrial, or dismissing charges.

The case has already drawn unusual attention for its alleged backstory, including reporting that the conflict grew out of an argument over payment for a cheap tattoo. It has also been marked by a separate courthouse scandal: Buncombe County bailiff Christopher “Matt” Plowucha was fired on June 12, 2025, after allegedly quoting a Bible verse about the death penalty to jurors and discussing the split in the case. Judge Gavenus later called those comments reckless, misguided and irresponsible.

In Buncombe County, where jurors are summoned for a specific day rather than a full week, long or high-profile homicide trials can ripple outward quickly. The fight over the video now sits at the center of a retrial that will shape not only Guyton’s fate, but also public confidence in how prosecutors disclose evidence and how carefully the county’s justice system handles a case this serious.