Trial is finally set to begin in 2015 slaying in Chester
Vincent Clark, 27, of Clover Lane, is facing first- and third-degree murder, criminal homicide and weapons charges for the May 31 shooting outside Michael Collier’s home at Third and Engle streets.
A jury has been selected to try the case of a Chester man accused in the 2015 shooting death of 33-year-old Michael Collier.
Vincent Clark, 27, of Clover Lane, is facing first- and third-degree murder, criminal homicide and weapons charges for the May 31 shooting outside Collier’s home at Third and Engle streets.
Collier’s family told police he was returning home that night and asked them to open the door because he did not have a key on him, according to an affidavit of probable cause. When he pulled up outside the residence in a 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, a man witnesses described as wearing a bucket hat and tan cargo shorts ran out of a nearby alley and fired several shots at Collier. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Four witnesses gave accounts of seeing a man known as “Vince” either nearby, carrying out the shooting or fleeing, according to police. One allegedly saw “Vince” with a handgun tucked into his waistband a few weeks prior and another said “Vince” had been hanging out in an alley near the scene for two days prior.
A fifth witness told police in March that he had been riding with Clark when the defendant told him, “I killed Sheets,” Collier’s street name. When asked why, Clark allegedly answered, “Because he killed Eshon.”
Eshon Rahmir Mills, 19, of Peoples Street, was found shot dead shot on the 1100 block of Pine Lane May 10, 2015. Chester police confirmed Collier was “a probable suspect” in Mills’ murder.
Clark was arrested two years to the day after Collier’s death and remains in custody at the county prison in Concord. The trial is scheduled to start Tuesday morning before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge James Bradley.
Defense attorney William Wismer also made several motions Friday to allow evidence he could use to attempt to impeach the credibility of commonwealth witnesses.
Assistant District Attorney Michelle Thurstlic-O’Neill had no objection to Wismer bringing up a past robbery conviction for one witness and a detainer lodged against another. Bradley denied Wismer’s motion to introduce three convictions for one witness that occurred in the 1990s, however, finding they are “stale.”
Bradley said he would consider a fourth motion to introduce evidence that one witness accepted contraband from a visitor while in prison and hid it in his mouth. Wismer said the drugs alone do not constitute a crime of falsehood, but hiding them from prison guards does. Thurstlic-O’Neill argued that any crime that occurs in the prison system would, by necessity, include an attempt at concealment from authorities. Bradley indicated he would give his answer on that issue before the start of trial Tuesday.