State witness David J. Easterling answers questions from the defense about accounts he gave in police statements concerning the abduction of Sam's Club Manager David Holt. ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF

"It's a lie," the Richmond County Superior Court jury heard over and over.

Mr. Easterling, 30 - who has pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the Holt case and to murder in the Columbia County deaths of Fred and Yong-Suk Walker - insisted his testimony last week about Carlston W. Coleman, 30, and Ronald Coleman Jr., 29, was the truth, however.

Last week, Mr. Easterling didn't testify he saw the June 21, 1998, robbery and kidnapping in Augusta or the killing of Mr. Holt, 45, in Aiken County later that night, but he did place the two Mr. Colemans at both crime scenes.

It was the details of how he came to know that information that changed from one interview to the next as Mr. Easterling was questioned by FBI agents and Richmond County Sheriff Sgt. Wayne Bunton.

In his second interview last January, Mr. Easterling placed Jarman Harold, 25, in the Holt case - an impossibility because Mr. Harold was in a state detention center in another part of Georgia at the time, a fact Sgt. Bunton discovered and confronted Mr. Easterling with two days later.

The witness lied about Mr. Harold because he was scared of him, Mr. Easterling testified. He lied about other details because "I didn't know what I was dealing with ... I was worried. I was stressed about my life ... I just didn't say it right," he testified.

Mr. Easterling denied telling a Columbia County sheriff's officer that he believed that Jimmy Rhodes was involved in the Holt case. He also denied that Dag Rhodes wanted to kill two men because they talked to the FBI about their involvement in the Holt case. It was because the men talked about the Rhodeses' involvement in the February 1998 Walker slayings, Mr. Easterling testified.

Dag Rhodes, his uncle Jimmy Rhodes and Mr. Easterling were arrested in June 2000 on murder and armed robbery charges in the Walker case. The Rhodeses are still facing death penalty trials. Mr. Easterling was spared a possible death sentence by pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with authorities in that case and the Holt case.

It was coincidence, Mr. Easterling testified, that his self-described involvement in both cases are mirror images: that he was picked up the night of the crimes and asked to drive; he waited near the crime scenes for about two hours; he lost track of others for a time; the others ran toward him; there were large, black bags; there were 9 mm handguns; there were black skullcaps; that he saw Dag Rhodes and Ronald Coleman selling watches a few days after the different crimes.

"It is what it is," Mr. Easterling said.

The two Mr. Colemans, who are not related, have pleaded innocent to charges including armed robbery and kidnapping in the Holt case. They also have pleaded innocent - as have Mr. Harold; Kendric Dudley, 30; Ronnie B. Overton Jr., 22; and Charles Winters, 28 - to a charge of violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or shodson@augustachronicle.com.