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NORRISTOWN — Two men, one from Norristown and the other from Philadelphia, conspired in “a plan” to take a Lower Providence man to a secluded area of the Schuylkill River trail in West Norriton where they robbed and fatally shot him, a prosecutor argued to a jury.
“This is a case of circumstantial evidence. We don’t have the murder weapon. We don’t know who fired the fatal shot,” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Faith O’Malley argued to a jury during her opening statement as the trial for accused killers Cody Kavon Reed and Marquise Alexander Johnson got under way on Monday.
Reed, 24, of the 300 block of West Marshall Street, Norristown, and Johnson, 24, of the 500 block of East Johnson Street, Philadelphia, each face charges of first-, second-, and third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, persons not to possess a firearm, firearms not to be carried without a license, flight to avoid apprehension and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the alleged 9 p.m.. March 2, 2023, slaying of Daquan Kennard Tucker, 25, of Rogers Road in Lower Providence, during an apparent robbery.
Three men walked into the wooded area and one is dead and only two, Reed and Johnson, came out and they possessed Tucker’s cellphone, O’Malley argued to the jury, referring to video surveillance footage from area cameras and cellphone data that captured the movements of the accused killers.
Even though no one knows who fired the fatal shots, Reed and Johnson are charged with homicide under accomplice liability theories, prosecutors explained.
“There were no coincidences. There was a plan. Everything they did, they did together,” argued O’Malley who is handling the case with co-prosecutor Kathleen Alane McLaughlin.
But defense lawyer Brendan Michael Campbell, who represents Reed, argued that while all three men were hanging out together at some point on the night of March 2 there is no DNA, fingerprint or gun evidence to link Reed to Tucker’s death.
“You’re not going to know who else Daquan Tucker met with that night,” Campbell argued during his opening statement, suggesting prosecutors are trying to “spoon feed” a theory with insufficient evidence to the jury of eight women and four men. “Check the ingredients of what they are feeding you.”
Defense lawyer Dennis P. Caglia, who represents Johnson, argued prosecutors don’t have sufficient evidence that any agreement existed between Johnson and Reed. Caglia joined Campbell in arguing that no one knows what happened to Tucker between 9 p.m. March 2 and 9 a.m. March 3 when his body was discovered along the trail.
“This case is light on evidence and heavy on theory. What the commonwealth does not present is equally important as what they present,” Caglia argued to the jury.
The trial before Judge William R. Carpenter is expected to last several days.
A conviction of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, or second-degree murder, a killing that occurs during the course of another felony such as robbery, carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
Reed and Johnson, who authorities said fled from the area and remained on the lam until April 6, 2023, when they were apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in Atlantic City, will remain in the county jail without bail pending trial.
The investigation began about 9:03 a.m. March 3, 2023, when a Philadelphia man riding his bicycle along the Schuylkill River Trail on the border of Norristown and West Norriton called 911 to report seeing a body in a wooded area between the trail and the Schuylkill River, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective John Wittenberger and West Norriton Detective Mark Wassmer.
“It was down a steep embankment. He was not moving and in an awkward position…he looked deceased,” testified Williard Terry, the bicyclist who discovered Tucker’s body and called 911.
Arriving officers found a man, later determined to be Tucker, “lying in the wooded area down a steep embankment, approximately 100 feet from the trail,” with apparent gunshot wounds. Detectives recovered two .40-caliber fired cartridge casings in close proximity to Tucker’s body, court documents indicate.
County Detective David Schanes testified investigators found no identification, no cellphone and no wallet with Tucker. Schanes said detectives used a fingerprint scanner to identify Tucker.
Tucker’s relatives and friends wiped tears from their eyes and one woman left the courtroom as photographs of the crime scene and Tucker’s body were displayed for the jury on a large projection screen in the courtroom.
“He had suffered gunshot wounds to the head,” Schanes testified, adding one projectile was recovered from Tucker’s head during an autopsy.
Dr. Khalil Wardak, a forensic pathologist, determined Tucker died of multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death was ruled to be homicide.
“Doctor Wardak identified two gunshot wounds to Tucker’s head and one gunshot wound to his neck,” Wittenberger and Wassmer wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Court papers indicate that a female friend of Tucker’s phoned a brother of Tucker in the early morning hours of March 3 out of concern that Tucker never arrived at the residence they shared as planned by 11 p.m. March 2 and that he was missing. The woman said a man named “Cody” sent an Uber to their residence for Tucker earlier and Tucker left in the Uber and hadn’t been seen since then, according to court documents.
Witnesses said when they checked Tucker’s location on the “Find My iPhone” feature it indicated his location was on the Schuylkill River Trail near Norristown between 8:57 p.m. and 9 p.m. March 2 in the exact location where his body eventually was found, according to court papers. A check of Tucker’s cellphone location at 10:06 p.m. on March 2 indicated it was in the area of the 1000 block of West Airy Street, authorities said.
Detectives obtained video surveillance footage that showed Tucker arriving at Reed’s residence a little after 7 p.m. March 2. Surveillance footage at 8:39 p.m. showed Reed, Tucker and Johnson, all of whom knew each other, walking toward the Schuylkill River Trail, according to court papers.
“The three then walked to a secluded area of the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton Township where Tucker was shot numerous times and killed and his property removed from him,” Wittenberger and Wassmer alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Video surveillance captured Reed and Johnson walking along West Airy Street at 10:06 p.m., the same place and time that witnesses previously told detectives the “Find My iPhone” feature located Tucker’s phone. Investigators alleged Reed and Johnson were in possession of Tucker’s cellphone after he had been shot and killed.
At 10:21 p.m., video surveillance depicted Reed and Johnson returning to Reed’s apartment on West Marshall Street, according to the arrest affidavit.
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