Son guilty of killing mother gets life
NORRISTOWN>> A 20-year-old Ambler man stood stone-faced as a jury determined he acted with a “specific intent to kill” when he fatally shot his mother and her boyfriend as they lay defenseless, sleeping in bed.
Joshua Trunk was convicted Wednesday in Montgomery County Court of two counts each of first- and third-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime in connection with the 10 p.m. July 31, 2016, shooting deaths of his mother, 54-year-old Janice Trunk, and her boyfriend, 44-year-old
Kevin Smith, in their residence at the Forest Garden Apartments in Ambler.
“Thank God,” a relative of Smith uttered softly as the jury foreman announced the first guilty verdict after 2½ hours of deliberations.
Judge Gary S. Silow immediately sentenced Trunk to two terms of “life in prison without the possibility of parole” on the first-degreemurder charges. Silow imposed the two life sentences consecutively, one for eachof the murders. Given the opportunity to address the court before the sentence was imposed, Trunk declined.
Several of Trunk’s friends wept openly as they learned the conviction means Trunk will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Tears welled in the eyes of Smith’s older brother, Stephen, as the verdict was announced.
“I feel relieved. I finally have some closure. It was tough having to relive it again,” Stephen Smith said afterward. “It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulder.”
Stephen Smith and other relatives who attended the trial often became emotional as details surrounding the murders were revealed in court. They were comforted by a member of the county’s Victim Services Center throughout the trial.
Stephen Smith said he will remember his brother as a “very kindman and a gentleman” and “a great golfer.”
“I’ll remember the nice person that he was. He was there for me and I was always there for him. I’m going to miss him not being able to teachme howto golf,” said Stephen Smith, his voice quivering with emotion at times.
First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. and co-prosecutor Kelly Lloyd were pleased with the outcome and they praised the work of county Detective William R. Mitchell Jr. and Ambler Detective Chad Cassel.
“He never deserves to see the light of day again and that’s reflective of his conduct. He brutally executed two people,” McCann said about Trunk. “It’s a horrible, horrible crime and he clearly deserves the sentence that he got. The consecutive sentence reflects the fact that there’s punishment for both victims and not just one and I think that’s totally appropriate what the judge did.”
Defense lawyer Benjamin Cooper indicated Trunk is likely to appeal the conviction.
“We’ll have to review the record and decide which claims will be raised. It’s a tragic case,” Cooper said afterward.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged Trunk’s motive was that he was angry at his mother for placing him in a drug rehabilitation facility from which he was released on July 25 after a one-week stay. Detectives learned that Trunk returned to living with his mother and Smith at the apartment complex located in the 100 block of Forest Avenue after he was released from the hospital.
“The defendant was angry with his mother… and he had told multiple people that she had to die or he had to die and sohe carried that threat out,” Lloyd said.
Witnesses told detectives that Trunk had a drug problem that made him paranoid, according to court papers
Prosecutors maintained Trunk had a “specific intent to kill,” which is a requirement for a first-degree murder conviction.
Testimony revealed Janice Trunk suffered “a contact gunshot wound” to the head, meaning the muzzle of the gun was in contact with the skin. Janice Trunk and Smith died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, prosecutors said.
Detectives alleged the close-range pattern of gunshots suggested the victims were “executed” as they lay in bed.
“There’s an element of rage to that,” McCann argued in his closing statement to jurors. “He executed them. He executed both of them.”
Detectives testified there were no signs of forced entry or ransacking inside the apartment and authorities collected six 9mm fired shell casings, five on the bedroom floor and one on the bed shared by the victims.
While themurder weapon was never recovered, prosecution witnesses testified Trunk illegally purchased a 9 mm handgun and a “clip” with ammunition for $800 during a clandestine meeting with another man in Norristown a day before the fatal shootings.
Other cooperating witnesses testified Trunk was “sort of off” and “not himself” after he was released from the drug rehabilitation hospital. One witness testified Trunk, in the days before the murder, stated that his mother “had to die” and voiced the option that he would “hire someone to do it.”
“The entire web of evidence … doesn’t just speak the truth, it screams the truth, that he cold-bloodedly killed his mother and Kevin Smith,” McCann argued to jurors.
Trunk did not testify during the trial
But Cooper argued prosecutors had no DNA or fingerprint evidence to link Trunk to the crime and repeatedly pointed out that a murder weapon was never found.
“They’re guessing. It’s a lot of guesses here,” Cooper argued to jurors during his closing statement, suggesting prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to convict Trunk. “You have speculation, that’s all you got.”
Cooper suggested prosecution witnesses who testified that Trunk made threats against his mother in the days leading up to the slayings gave inconsistent statements and that their testimony was unreliable.
“Henever deserves to see the light of day again and that’s reflective of his conduct. He brutally executed two people.”
— Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Edward McCann Jr. “I’ll remember the nice person that hewas. He was there for me and I was always there for him.”
— Stephen Smith remembering his brother as “a very kind man and a gentleman”