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NORRISTOWN — The fates of two men, one from Norristown and the other from Philadelphia, are in the hands of a jury on charges they participated in the gunshot slaying of a Lower Providence man on the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton.
Cody Kavon Reed, 24, of the 300 block of West Marshall Street, Norristown, and Marquise Alexander Johnson, 24, of the 500 block of East Johnson Street, Philadelphia, showed no emotion as the Montgomery County jury was handed the case and began deliberations late Wednesday afternoon.
After deliberating about 90 minutes the jurors were excused for the day and Judge William R. Carpenter ordered them to return Thursday morning to resume deliberations.
Reed and Johnson each face charges of first-, second-, and third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, weapons offenses, flight to avoid apprehension and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the alleged 9 p.m. March 2, 2023, robbery and slaying of Daquan Tucker, 25, of Rogers Road in Lower Providence.
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.
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Alane McLaughlin and co-prosecutor Caitlin Faith O’Malley alleged Reed and Johnson had a plan to lure Tucker to the popular recreational trail to kill him.
“They planned to execute Daquan Tucker. They had a plan and they were trying to commit this crime in secret,” McLaughlin argued to the jury during her closing statement.
Prosecutors didn’t have to present a motive for the killing. Even though there were no eyewitnesses to the killing and no gun was found and no one knows who fired the fatal shots, prosecutors argued circumstantial evidence pointed to Reed and Johnson as the killers. Reed and Johnson were charged with homicide under accomplice liability theories.
“An act done by one is the responsibility of both,” McLaughlin argued. “All roads lead back to Cody and Marquise.”
Prosecutors argued Tucker was robbed of his wallet and cellphone during the fatal encounter.
McLaughlin and O’Malley argued it was no coincidence that Reed and Johnson were the last people seen with Tucker and that they were in possession of his cellphone after he was killed.
But defense lawyer Brendan Michael Campbell, who represents Reed, argued that while all three men were hanging out together at some point that night there is no DNA, fingerprint or gun evidence to link Reed to Tucker’s death.
“There’s a lot of reasonable doubt. There are a lot of holes,” Campbell argued to the jury during his closing statement. “The commonwealth is trying to spoon feed testimony and evidence to fit their narrative of the case.”
Defense lawyer Dennis P. Caglia, who represents Johnson, argued prosecutors didn’t have sufficient evidence that any agreement existed between Johnson and Reed and suggested Tucker lived “a dangerous life” and could have been targeted by someone else.
“The investigation focused solely on Marquise Johnson and Cody Reed to the exclusion of everybody else,” Caglia argued, adding there was no evidence of any “beef” between Tucker and Johnson. “There’s no evidence of any motive of Mr. Johnson to harm Mr. Tucker.”
Caglia and Campbell argued 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 by a recreational bicyclist.
Reed and Johnson, who authorities said fled from the area, remained on the lam until April 6, 2023, when they were apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in Atlantic City.
The investigation began about 9:03 a.m. March 3, 2023, when a citizen 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.
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.
Detectives testified the casings were fired from the same unknown firearm.
Detectives testified investigators found no identification, no cellphone and no wallet with Tucker. Detectives used a fingerprint scanner to identify Tucker, who previously lived in Reading.
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.
Testimony revealed 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, who was dating Tucker, subsequently told detectives she believed 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 testimony.
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. 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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