Philly man gets 10-25 years in Upper Darby slaying
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Philadelphia man convicted on third-degree murder for the March 12, 2016, shooting death of 35-year-old Upper Darby man Shawn O. Mitchell has been sentenced to 10 to 25 years in a state prison.
Jermaine Crosley was also found guilty of possessing a firearm by a person prohibited following a bench trial in April before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge James Bradley, for which he was given a concurrent sentence of 36 to 72 months.
Mitchell’s widow, Nhashara Samuels-Mitchell, testified at the trial that Crosley, who she knew as “Wassi,” had lived in a shed behind the couple’s house on the 500 block of Timberlake Road since December, but sometimes slept inside the basement on cold nights.
Samuels-Mitchell said she was preparing to go to work at about 2:15 p.m. March 12 when her husband went into the basement to talk to Crosley. She heard a loud bang and sent her 8-year-old daughter to get her husband.
The daughter testified via closed-circuit television that she saw her father and Crosley struggling over a gun in the basement and ran to tell her mother. Samuels-Mitchell said she saw Crosley chasing her husband down the alley firing at him and yelled at him to stop.
The victim collapsed at the corner of Timberlake Road and Patterson Avenue. He was transported to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he died following emergency surgery.
Crosley, a Jamaican native, claimed self-defense during the trial and provided a jumbled narrative implicating Mitchell as a sadist and constant aggressor who sold drugs out of his house.
Crosley said at trial that the fatal shot came as the two men struggled for the weapon, a stance he reiterated at sentencing.
“I didn’t have the intention for this person to get hurt,” he said. “I was protecting myself because I was suddenly approached by serious provocation. …I just want the court to know that it was an accident and during the struggle, that’s when it happened.”
Assistant District Attorney Michelle Thurstlic-O’Neill said she was “shocked and offended” by Crosley’s testimony and allegations against Mitchell, which she said were completely unsupported by any evidence and only served to further pain Nhashara Samuels-Mitchell.
Thurstlic-O’Neill noted Mitchell saw only a fellow immigrant who needed help and did his best to feed, clothe and shelter him. She said Crosley also appeared to play up his apparent confusion related to mental health issues when it was convenient to his case.
Defense attorney Jim Wright said Crosley had likely been improperly or poorly treated for schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder for some time, pointing to a prior involuntary commitment and a previous criminal case in which he was deemed incompetent.
“We have two ways of looking at this,” Wright said. “The commonwealth’s concern is that my client is just flat-out criminal. My concern is that my client is a lot more mental health than criminal.”
Bradley noted Crosley was found competent to go to trial in this case, though he acknowledged his mental health issues. Thurstlic-O’Neill also said Crosley has been medicated since his arrest and was evaluated prior to trial with no indication of confusion. Thurstlic-O’Neill read letter from Mitchell’s a 9-year-old daughter for the court, in which she described her father playing with his children often, taking them to the park and scheduling play dates with other kids.
The child also said she is now afraid of strangers and afraid to go into the basement. She has dreams of Crosley breaking out of prison to come back and murder her family.
“Since this happened, my little (5-year-old) brother often asks if we are going to die,” said the girl in the letter. “He asks, ‘Why did Wassi kill daddy?’ My mommy and I are sad and we cry a lot. I just want to know why Wassi killed daddy.”
Nhashara SamuelsMitchell told the judge it is a question she is left pondering as well.
“Me without Shawn is like madness,” she said. “He was all I knew. I depended on him for so much … I am lost, angry, confused, hopeless, barely grasping reality at times. I’m still in denial that my husband is gone.”
Nhashara SamuelsMitchell described her husband as “an awesome father” and family man who doted on his children. She said he was her soul mate and best friend, “a true Rasta man” who always promoted love, peace and unity.
As Mitchell lay dying, she said the police asked how he knew Crosley, to which he answered, “He’s a man that I’m trying to help.”
“After all that kindness my husband showed him, he killed him for no reason,” she said. “A bullet to his heart for showing kindness.”
In addition to prison time, Crosley will serve 10 years of consecutive probation and pay $7,864 to the victim’s compensation fund. He is not eligible for early release.