Conspirator in teen’s slaying faces life term
NORRISTOWN » Prosecutors are using a so-called “three strike” law to potentially seek a life prison term for a Norristown man who supplied the gun to and was the getaway driver for another man during the gunshot slaying of a 16-year-old Pottstown boy.
William Durell Wilson, 31, of the first block of Zummo Way, is eligible for a sentence of 25 years to life under Pennsylvania’s Three Strikes Law, Montgomery County Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman argued in court papers.
“The Commonwealth may seek life imprisonment without parole,” Cauffman and co-prosecu-
tor Roderick Fancher wrote in a “notice of intent to seek mandatory third strike sentence.”
Wilson was convicted by a jury earlier this week of charges of third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit third-degree murder, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime and unsworn falsification to law enforcement authorities in connection with the 6:30 p.m. July 6, 2017, gunshot slaying of Jordan Scott, and the wounding of a second teenager, Taye Wynder, who had been walking with Scott, at Chain Street and Blackberry Alley in Norristown.
With the conviction, jurors found that Wilson provided the handgun to Isaiah “Zay” Freeman, who was the triggerman. Freeman was convicted of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, and faces a mandatory life prison term.
Wilson faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison on the third-degree murder charge. The jury acquitted Wilson of a more serious first-degree murder charge.
But prosecutors argued the third-degree murder conviction represents the third violent offense of which Wilson has been convicted, hence his eligibility to be sentenced under the “three strikes law.”
Wilson, according to prosecutors, has a felony conviction for robbery stemming
from a 2003 incident and another robbery conviction stemming from a September 2011 incident.
Judge Thomas C. Branca has scheduled a July 10 sentencing date for Wilson and Freeman.
During the trial, Cauffman described Wilson as “the over confident general with an arsenal” and Freeman as the “battlehardened soldier full of anger and aggression,” two players who came together “in a mission of violence and murder.”
Hinting at a motive for the killing Cauffman and Fancher claimed Wilson and Freeman were a part of the same group of friends from Norristown that were feuding with Scott and others associated from Pottstown over several days leading up to July 6, 2017.
Prosecutors alleged Wilson encouraged his friends to settle the dispute through violent means, provided transportation to Pottstown on a previous occasion to do so, and provided firearms to his younger friends, including Freeman.
Defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr., who represented Wilson, argued Wilson didn’t know that a shooting was going to occur that day and that Wilson had no issues with Scott.
During the trial, Bryce Byrd, 19, testified for prosecutors that he was in the
backseat of Wilson’s 2013 Dodge Challenger when Wilson parked his car in the area of Blackberry and Jamison alleys and gave Freeman a handgun. Byrd said Freeman, the front seat passenger, was “hyped” and that Wilson “egged him on.” Byrd testified he watched as Freeman exited the vehicle, walked to the corner of Blackberry Alley and Chain Street and fired several gunshots.
Freeman then ran back to Wilson’s waiting vehicle and allegedly stated, “I got him, I got him, I hit him,” and “I shot him all in here” while pointing to his chest, according to testimony and witness accounts contained in the arrest affidavit.
Wilson then drove Freeman away from the scene.
Scott, who once lived in the 500 block of High Street in Norristown’s East End but at the time of the shooting
was living in Pottstown, was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m. at a local hospital.
An autopsy determined Scott died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds and two projectiles were removed from the teenager’s body, according to court documents.
Wynder, who had been walking with Scott at the time of the shooting, suffered a gunshot wound to the right ankle and was treated for his wound at Paoli Hospital.