GUILTY VERDICT, LIFE SENTENCE
Jury convicts Pottstown man of 'execution-style' slaying of ex-girlfriend
NORRISTOWN >> A Pottstown man stood stone-faced as a jury determined he behaved intentionally when he fatally shot his ex-girlfriend, ending a “toxic relationship” with a brutal act prosecutors characterized as “executionstyle.”
Bobbie “Steels” Mitchell Jr., 37, of the 200 block of Oak Street, was convicted in Montgomery County Court on Thursday of a charge of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing, in connection with the 1:58 a.m. Easter Sunday April 1, 2018, gunshot slaying of Siani Overby, 23, in the 300 block of Johnson Street.
Judge Todd D. Eisenberg immediately sentenced Mitchell to life imprisonment without parole, a mandatory sentence for first-degree murder.
“The jury made the wrong decision,” Mitchell, dressed in a dark grey suit, uttered as sheriff’s deputies escorted him from the courtroom to begin serving the life term.
Mitchell also was convicted of charges of possessing an instrument of crime and person not
to possess a firearm. The judge sentenced Mitchell to an additional five years in prison on those charges — consecutive to the life term — a largely symbolic move that will make it more difficult for a future governor to ever commute the life prison sentence.
During the sentencing hearing, it was revealed Mitchell had a prior conviction for attempted voluntary manslaughter in connection with a 2004 shooting incident in Norristown for which he previously spent time in state prison.
Mitchell, formerly of West Spruce Street in Norristown, reportedly was on parole at the time of the Pottstown murder.
During the four-day trial, Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman and co-prosecutor Richard Bradbury Jr. suggested Mitchell fatally shot Overby because he feared she would alert police about his illegal drug dealing and firearm selling if he didn’t agree to pay child support and continue their relationship.
“He’s got a lot to lose if she goes to police,” Cauffman argued on Thursday as she delivered her closing statement to jurors. “Siani had caused this defendant so many problems … and he was done. This was a toxic relationship.”
Jurors appeared riveted as they listened to a 45-second audio recording, captured by a home surveillance system on the block where Overby was killed, which revealed the three gunshots, interspersed between Overby’s blood-curdling screams.
“Stone cold killer. One, two, three shots. Willful, deliberate, premeditated,” argued Cauffman, explaining Overby was shot in the legs, chest and back of the head “execution-style.” “That final head shot … he wanted her dead.”
Cauffman suggested the audio recording, described by her as “chilling,” provided evidence of Mitchell’s deliberate conduct, a requirement for first-degree murder. After the first two gunshots, Overby was still heard screaming but after the third gunshot, Overby became silent.
A forensic pathologist testified that during an autopsy he found gunpowder residue on the head wound, explaining the gun’s “muzzle is very, very close to the skin.” He described it as an “execution-type gunshot.”
“You can infer he had the specific intent to kill her,” Cauffman argued. “That’s not a struggle. That’s an execution.”
But defense lawyer Evan Hughes, referring to the audiotape, argued prosecutors played on the “emotions” of jurors and that they didn’t have sufficient evidence to prove Mitchell was the killer. During his closing remarks to jurors, Hughes argued there was “a significant lack of direct evidence,” and no DNA tests, fingerprints, a gun or eyewitnesses to link Mitchell to the crime.
“The audio recording is horrible. That is a clear attempt to inject emotion into your deliberation,” Hughes argued. “Do not rush to judgment based on emotion. If facts are missing, you don’t swing that sword of judgment. In this case there is significant doubt.”
Mitchell took the stand in his own defense during the trial, adamantly denying that he killed Overby.
While detectives testified they recovered Mitchell’s cellphone next to the victim’s legs, allegedly dropped and left behind by Mitchell during the killing, Mitchell claimed to the jury he had given the phone to Overby to use earlier in the evening because “her phone was dying.”
Trying to explain how his cellphone ended up lying in blood at the crime scene, Mitchell testified Overby stopped by his residence to talk earlier in the evening, that he loaned her his cellphone and that was the last time that he had seen her.
Relying on cellphone data records, prosecutors pointed out that Mitchell was making calls on that phone to others just 20 minutes before the fatal shooting and challenged his claim that he had given the phone to Overby.
Detectives also testified cellphone tower data connected to another cellphone owned by Mitchell placed Mitchell in the vicinity of the murder at the time it occurred. That phone was “inching closer and closer to the homicide location,” a detective testified.
“He lived in Pottstown. To assume that Mr. Mitchell is traveling…to the site of the homicide is extremely flawed. He had a reason to be there. It does not mean he pulled the trigger,” Hughes countered on behalf of Mitchell.
The homicide investigation began when Pottstown police responded to the 300 block of Johnson Street at 1:58 a.m. for a report of a woman screaming and shots fired. Neighborhood residents testified they observed a lone male figure running or “darting” away from the area around the time of the shooting but couldn’t make out facial features or positively identify the subject.
Officers arrived to find Overby, suffering fatal gunshot wounds, lying on the sidewalk next to a fence, according to court papers filed by county Detective Todd Richard and Pottstown Detective Heather Long.
Relatives of the victim told detectives that at one point Overby believed Mitchell was the father of her son and that she was seeking a paternity test and child support from Mitchell. But testimony at a pretrial hearing revealed, for the first time in August, that a subsequent paternity test determined Mitchell was not the father of the child.
Prosecutors argued Mitchell fled from Pottstown after the killing, calling his older children and his current girlfriend shortly after 2 a.m. and telling them to pack bags and that they were leaving for Connecticut where he his father resided.
“This was a spontaneous get the hell out of dodge moment. That’s what that was,” Cauffman argued.
Mitchell was apprehended in Waterbury, Conn. on April 3 and during a search of the vehicle that he was driving, detectives found $119,900 cash in the trunk.
According to court papers, Mitchell detectives he was involved in the sale of “high grade marijuana” and has “drug connections” that he referred to as the “cartel.” Mitchell allegedly claimed the cash found in the trunk was proceeds of his illegal drug sales, according to court papers.
“Stone cold killer. One, two, three shots. Willful, deliberate, premeditated.”
- Montgomery County Prosecutor Samantha Cauffman “The jury made the wrong decision.”
- Bobbie Mitchell Jr.