Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Guilty verdict in Dunkin’ Donuts murder
WEST CHESTER » Two men have been found guilty of the murder of a Phoenixville teenager outside a borough Dunkin’ Donuts three years ago during what the prosecution maintained was a drug- related robbery gone awry.
A Chester County Common Pleas jury hearing the case against Brian Keith “Redz” Corsey, the alleged gunman in the fatal shooting, and John “Gotti” Ortiz- Carr, an accomplice who drove the getaway car, returned with their verdict late Tuesday night, finding the men guilty of second- degree murder, robbery, theft and conspiracy. Corsey was also found guilty of a firearms offense.
The panel of seven men and five women deliberated from about 5: 30 p. m. until 10 p. m. before returning with its verdict before a socially- distanced courtroom. Corsey, 26, of Philadelphia had to be admonished by Judge Allison Bell Royer after he complained that the verdict was taking the court clerk too long to read.
The finding of guilt for seconddegree murder, known as felony murder, means that Corsey and Ortiz- Carr, 27, of Pottstown, face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The men were returned to Chester County Prison to await formal sentencing before Royer sometime later this year.
Killed in the confrontation in
December 2017was 15- yearold Jayson Ortiz- Cameron, a student at Phoenixville Area High School who was hanging out with friends at the doughnut shop when he was approached by an older man who frequented the store to help him “hit a lick” — that is, rob someone who was going to buy marijuana from the man.
When the verdict was announced, the victim’s mother, Adrienne K. Cameron, exclaimed “Thank God!” And began crying, according to observers.
Ortiz- Cameron died after he became engaged in a confrontation with Corsey when he and the drug dealer, Thomas Farrell, tried to back out of the deal because the situation looked “sketchy.” As they struggled, Ortiz- Cameron was killed by a single shot from a 9mm semiautomatic handgun to his head. He died at the scene.
The prosecution was led by Deputy District Attorney Carlos Barraza and Assistant District Attorney JohnMcCaul. The case was investigated by Phoenixville Detective Nicholas Natale and Chester County Detective Joseph Walton.
The defense contested the prosecution’s version of events, with the attorney for Corsey, Jonathan Altschuler of Philadelphia, contending that OrtizCameron and Farrell had planned an armed robbery of the man with whom Farrell had set up the deal. Altshuler suggested that instead of being shot by Corsey, OrtizCameron was killed in a struggle with an unknown man and died of a self- inf licted gun wound. The jury rejected that version of events.
Authorities contended that on Dec. 27, 2017, Corsey, Ortiz- Carr and a third man, Robert McCoy III, traveled to Phoenixville to meet up with a marijuana dealer none had ever met. McCoy, who testified on behalf of the prosecution, said he had arranged the deal in order to steal the drugs from the man he had arranged to meet outside the doughnut shop.
Corsey agreed to let McCoy use his 2007 black Ford Focus, and the three drove from Pottstown, where McCoy and Ortiz- Carr lived, to Phoenixville. McCoy drove, while OrtizCarr was the front passenger and C or se yin the back seat. Once there, they met with Farrell and OrtizCameron at the Dunkin’ Donuts in the 200 block of Nutt Road.
In his closing argument, Barraza took the jurors through a meticulous, step- by- step re- enactment of the crime, from its beginnings to the end, using both audio recordings of interviews and video surveillance footage from inside and outside the doughnut shop.
Of Ortiz- Cameron’s behavior inside the shop, Barraza said, “He’s acting like a 15- year- old kid who’s about to get really in over his head.” Farrell had tried to recruit others among those who hung out at the shop, but all declined until Ortiz- Cameron accepted.
As the jurors watched on video, they saw Farrell and Ortiz- Cameron walk outside the shop and then realize that there were three men, not one, in the car, which had a back window blacked out with plastic, and they began to back away from the deal.
But Corsey got out of the car, as did McCoy to try to get the two back to the car and complete the drug robbery. Corsey confronted Ortiz- Cameron at the rear of the shop, while Farrell and McCoy faced off at the side of the car. The two squared off to fight as McCoy told Farrell, “You don’t want to go over there,” meaning toward where Corsey and OrtizCameron were standing.
Corsey then pul led out a small semi- automatic handgun, cocked it, pointed it at Ortiz- Cameron and began to rif le through the teenager’s pockets. He then fired a single shot and Ortiz- Cameron fell to the ground, mortally wounded, according to the prosecution.
The three men jumped back in the car, with OrtizCarr driving, and went back to the house in Pottstown where they had initially planned the robbery. They split up the marijuana they had stolen and began to dispose of evidence related to the murder before McCoy fled to Philadelphia.
Witnesses were able to tell investigators about who had committed the murder and what happened, and McCoy was arrested by Phoenixville Detective Nicholas Natale in April 2018. Corsey was apprehended after a standoff with police at a location outside Atlanta, Ga., in May 2018.