HILLSBOROUGH - Chelsea Lipson, a prosecution witness who stayed at Brian Minton’s house the week of Josh Bailey’s murder, testified Tuesday that she was scared of Minton, who’s accused of orchestrating the killing, and of Matt Johnson, who allegedly pulled the trigger.

Lipson was in Minton’s garage on July 29, 2008, when Minton, Lipson’s boyfriend Jacob Maxwell, and other friends interrogated Matt Johnson about missing property and suspected informing to law enforcement, and she was present later when Bailey was subjected to similar interrogation. She testified that she hit Bailey in an effort to get him to tell the truth.

Bailey was then driven to a wooded area northwest of Carrboro in Minton’s mother’s SUV by Minton, Maxwell, Brandon Greene, Matt Johnson, Ryan Lee, and Jack Johnson, who was the key witness for the prosecution and is not related to Matt Johnson.

Lee testified Monday that he drove Bailey to the garage and went with the group as they took Bailey out to Twisted Oak Drive.

Lipson testified that she saw Bailey beaten and zip-tied, and then left the garage with Sarah Krombach and Gary Bright before Bailey was driven off.

There, the prosecution contends that Matt Johnson used Minton’s gun and shot Bailey in the head, at Minton’s orders.

Minton is one of six men charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping, and he is the first to face a jury trial. District Attorney Jim Woodall is not seeking the death penalty.

Witnesses Lee and Jack Johnson accepted plea deals. Lee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Jack Johnson was convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He faces up to 30 years in prison and will be sentenced after the other cases are resolved.

Matt Johnson of Wilmington, Greene and Maxwell, both of Chapel Hill, are also charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson removed jurors to hear Lipson’s account of an armed robbery in Greensboro the week before the killing and rule whether it would be admissible before jurors.

Defense Attorney James Glover objected to Lipson’s testimony about the robbery and to referencing her sworn statements that she was afraid of Minton and that he had boasted in August that he could get away with a crime.

Assistant District Attorney Byron Beasley and Woodall argued that Lipson’s account of the robbery would point to a similarity in crimes and to motive. Minton was scared about being implicated in the earlier robbery in Greensboro, they argued.

After most of her testimony was ruled acceptable Lipson told jurors told she had known Maxwell since middle school and was living in Maine and receiving frequent visits from Maxwell when she became pregnant with his child.

Lipson returned to the area in July 2008 to move in with Maxwell, only to learn his mother had kicked him out. The couple slept on Maxwell’s friend Minton’s couch instead, in the home of his parents Greg and Michele on Smith Level Road.

The week before Bailey’s death, Lipson testified, she and others drove to Greensboro and stole drugs and other items from an apartment, threatening the residents with guns later used to interrogate and shoot Bailey.

After the incident in Minton’s garage and Bailey’s disappearance, she testified she saw Minton attempting to burn Bailey’s blood-stained shirt and cell phones stolen during the Greensboro robbery.

She , Krombach and Bright left the Minton garage to bake a pie after Bailey was beaten, and when they came back later, the group had left.

It was a couple of days later that Maxwell told her what had happened.

“(Maxwell) said that they had taken Josh out into the woods just to scare him just to see if he would tell them anything else. That he started talking about something and Matt just shot him.”

Lipson testified that she overheard Minton and Johnson discussing the murder.

“Brian and Matt were arguing about where Josh was shot. Brian said that Matt shot him in the back of the head, and Matt said that he shot him in either the side or the front of the head.”

Beasley asked if she contacted law enforcement after learning of Bailey’s death. She did not. She was working at UNC Hospitals in the medical records division when investigators approached her in September.

“I felt threatened by Matt Johnson and Brian,” she said.