Man accused in Lansdale murder wants phrase deleted

Ricky Vance claims prosecutors have no evidence to support ‘contract murder’ claim in Ebony Pack killing

NORRISTOWN >> A Philadelphia man accused of participating in the November 2020 drive-by shooting in Lansdale that claimed the life of a Bucks County woman wants to prevent prosecutors from arguing to a jury that the killing was a “contract murder” or “murder for hire.”

Ricky G. Vance, through his lawyer John I. McMahon Jr., filed a petition in Montgomery County Court claiming prosecutors, “notwithstanding the complete lack of evidence to support such a claim,” intend to argue the killing of 30-year-old Ebony Sequita Pack was a “contract murder” or “murder for hire.”

“The Commonwealth’s theory that defendant was involved in an alleged conspiracy to kill Ms. Pack is based entirely on circumstantial evidence, primarily the allegation that defendant’s Cadillac vehicle was involved in the shooting, cellphone analysis and an interview of defendant,” defense lawyer John I. McMahon Jr. wrote in court papers.

“There is no evidence that defendant received any financial benefit in exchange for his alleged role in the supposed conspiracy, or that there was any exchange of money whatsoever, amongst any of the defendants, in connection with the killing of Ms. Pack,” McMahon added.

McMahon claimed prosecutors will not be able to present any evidence to support such “a baseless, highly inflammatory, and superficially appealing claim.” To permit such a claim at trial would create “an untenable danger that the jury will rely on the prosecutor’s bald conclusions and render a verdict that is not based on the actual evidence presented at trial,” McMahon argued.

McMahon asked Judge William R. Carpenter to preclude prosecutors from arguing to the jury that the murder was a contract killing.

Prosecutors Brianna Ringwood and Lindsey Mills will address Vance’s request when the judge holds a pretrial hearing on the matter.

Vance, 54, of the 2400 block of North 31st Street, Philadelphia, faces charges of first- andthird-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, person not to possess or transfer a firearm

and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the Nov. 28, 2020, fatal shooting of Pack, of Feasterville, Bucks County, along East Hancock Street in Lansdale.

With the charges, prosecutors alleged Vance conspired with two other men, Chong Ling Dan and Terrence M. Marche, to kill Pack.

Dan, 50, of the 3000 block of North Lambert Street, Philadelphia, is accused of plotting the fatal shooting of Pack, who was his former girlfriend’s new love interest. In addition to the homicide and conspiracy charges, Dan, who is represented by defense lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Guy R. Sciolla II, faces charges of solicitation to commit murder.

Marche, 48, of Valley Forge Circle in the King of Prussia section of Upper Merion, the alleged gunman, faces homicide-related charges and is still being sought by authorities.

The trial for Vance and Dan will get under way on Sept. 19 with jury selection.

Detectives alleged Pack was fatally shot in her vehicle while she was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Hancock and Church Road in Lansdale. Detectives alleged Pack was on her way to her girlfriend’s nearby residence and had been followed from the Bensalem entrance to the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Lansdale intersection, where she was shot and killed by Marche, who was a passenger in a Cadillac vehicle owned by Vance.

The investigation revealed Dan’s ex-girlfriend was in a relationship with Pack, according to prosecutors.

Dan’s onetime girlfriend broke off her relationship with Dan in July 2020 when she started dating Pack. At that time, Dan’s former girlfriend was holding $19,000 for him, and when they broke up, Dan demanded the money back, according to prosecutors. Dan’s former girlfriend returned $10,000 and said she spent the other $9,000, court papers alleged.

The former girlfriend told detectives that Dan, from July 2020 to the time of the fatal shooting, had been harassing her and had been abusive toward her, so much so that she had obtained a Protection From Abuse Order against Dan. The former girlfriend told detectives Dan also made disparaging remarks about Pack.

The former girlfriend told detectives that at one point, Dan threatened, “I’m gonna fix her” or “have something for her,” according to court papers.

“Detectives have worked diligently to solve the puzzle of Ebony’s death and the evidence they have uncovered points to Dan, whose anger and jealousy provided the clear motive for the killing of his former girlfriend’s new love interest,” county District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said at the time of Dan’s arrest last December.

Detectives alleged cellphone records showed Dan, Vance and Marche were together leading up to the time of the murder in the area of a West Mount Airy residence that Dan was known to frequent.

After Vance was arrested in April 2021, Marche traveled to Honduras, where he allegedly was meeting with Dan, who later told others that Marche “went missing,” according to a criminal complaint. Dan later returned to Philadelphia without Marche, authorities alleged.

The investigation began at 9:59 p.m. Nov. 28 when Lansdale police were dispatched to a vehicle crash and reports of shots fired in the area of East Hancock Street and Church Road, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective John Wittenberger and Lansdale Detective Joseph Gary. Arriving officers found a Nissan Sentra, with numerous bullet strikes and its engine still running, resting against a light standard on the northwest corner of the intersection and an unresponsive Pack seated in the driver’s seat.

Pack was transported to Abington-Lansdale Hospital Jefferson Health where she was pronounced dead at 10:24 p.m. A subsequent autopsy determined Pack died from multiple gunshot wounds and the death was ruled a homicide.

Detectives combing the scene found 10 fired 9mm cartridge cases and shattered glass on East Hancock Street, just east of Church Road, according to court papers. Investigators determined Pack’s vehicle traveled 93 feet from where the cluster of fired cartridge cases and the shattered glass were found to where it crashed into the light standard.

Detectives also obtained video surveillance footage from a camera located on the North Penn School District Educational Building in the 400 block of East Hancock Street which depicted Pack’s vehicle traveling westbound on East Hancock Street, followed by a second vehicle, according to the arrest affidavit.

At 9:56 p.m., Pack’s vehicle stopped for a red traffic signal at the intersection with Church Road and a few seconds later the second vehicle pulled next to the driver’s side door of Pack’s vehicle, according to surveillance footage. The second vehicle then drove away and traveled southbound on Church Road.

“Meanwhile, the victim’s vehicle slowly rolls through the intersection to where it came to rest against the light standard…These were the only two vehicles at the intersection at the time of the shooting,” Wittenberger and Gary alleged in the criminal complaint.

Pennsylvania State Police conducted forensic tests on Vance’s vehicle and that analysis showed particles indicative of gunshot residue on the passenger side of the Cadillac, which is consistent with images depicted in video surveillance of the fatal shooting, detectives alleged.

“This evidence is consistent with Ricky Vance’s Cadillac pulling alongside the victim’s vehicle and a passenger inside of Vance’s Cadillac firing shots, as depicted in the video surveillance from the North Penn School District Building,” detectives alleged in court papers.