ORLANDO, Fla. – A jury was seated Monday in the trial for a man charged with murder in the shooting death of a former Orlando Magic player, according to court records.
Lawrence Dority was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Adreian Payne in 2022.
The trial is set to begin Tuesday.
According to Orange County sheriff’s officials, the fatal shooting happened in May 2022 in the Econ Landing neighborhood on Egret Shores Drive near Curry Ford Road and State Road 417.
Payne, 31, was found with a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital, where he later died, authorities said.
[VIDEO BELOW: Former NBA player shot, killed in Orange County]
Investigators said Payne was shot after trying to break up a domestic dispute between Dority and his girlfriend.
Dority, 29 at the time, stayed at the scene and cooperated with the investigation. An affidavit for an arrest warrant shows Dority called 911 after the fatal shooting and told the dispatcher, “He act(ed) like he (had) a gun, and I shot him. He reached for his gun, I ran inside my house, and I shot him.”
However, records show Payne did not have a weapon and there was no gun in his vehicle.
Dority described Payne as intimidating due to his size — Payne was 6 feet 10 inches tall — and claimed his actions were justified, according to the affidavit.
Dority’s attorney, Harold Thompson, said it was a “textbook stand your ground case.”
Payne, who played college basketball at Michigan State, was a first-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks in the 2014 NBA draft. Payne played in 107 NBA games, averaging four points and three rebounds, over four seasons with Atlanta, Minnesota and Orlando. The Hawks drafted him No. 15 overall in 2014, traded him to the Timberwolves, and he averaged 6.7 points and 5.1 rebounds as a potentially promising rookie.
In 2017, Payne signed a contract with the Orlando Magic, spending the majority of the 2017–18 season with the team’s G-League affiliate, the Lakeland Magic.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during this difficult time,” Orlando Magic spokesman Joel Glass said in an email.