Judge to killer: ‘You are without emotion’

NORRISTOWN » A 19-year-old Norristown man showed no emotion, just rocked in a leather chair at the defense table as a judge sentenced him to life imprisonment for being the triggerman during the gunshot slaying of a 16-year-old Pottstown boy.

“You are without emotion as I see it. For the life of me, I don’t understand what makes you tick. You truly do not comprehend the nature of your actions. You have ruined the lives of so many people, including your own,” Montgomery County Judge Thomas C. Branca addressed Isaiah “Zay” Freeman on Tuesday as he sentenced him to “a term of imprisonment for his natural life without the possibility of parole.”

During a trial in April, a jury convicted Freeman of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and possessing an instrument of crime 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. Freeman was 18 at the time of the killing.

“This is just such an unexplainable, random act of violence that is, so unfortunately, marking our society these days. Totally senseless. It is a sad commentary. I can only hope that during the lifetime in prison that you find some meaning in your life,” Branca added as he looked at the young man seated before him.

Freeman did not address the courtroom, packed by Scott’s relatives and friends, before learning his fate.

But Denise Scott, the victim’s heartbroken mother, wept openly as she made certain Freeman knew what he stole from her.

“You took my future away,” an anguished Denise Scott sobbed as she addressed Freeman. “My son was 16. He was a baby. It never dawned on me that my baby would never get

older. I only got to have 16 years with him. He’s gone, like forever.”

Wearing a T-shirt embossed with photos of Jordan, Denise Scott testified she suffered several miscarriages before giving birth to Jordan, her only child, who relatives affectionately knew as “Bud.”

“He was born perfect. I called him my miracle baby,” the grief-stricken mother testified.

As she turned toward Freeman, Denise Scott said hatred was never part of her life.

“I don’t want to hate you. But I can’t help it,” she dramatically confronted Freeman, who didn’t react. “I absolutely hate you for taking my miracle child.”

While Freeman showed no emotion inside the courtroom, as he left under guard by sheriff’s deputies to begin serving his life sentence he uttered to a reporter, “Tell her I’m sorry for her loss and hope she can forgive me.”

Darren Evans, Freeman’s uncle, addressed Scott’s weeping relatives.

“We’re sorry for your loss. There’s no way we condone his actions,” Evans testified.

Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman argued Freeman refuses to take responsibility for ambushing the two teenagers walking along a Norristown street in broad daylight.

“They didn’t deserve to be ambushed and shot on a street corner,” Cauffman said.

Defense lawyer John I. McMahon Jr. said given Freeman’s youth he’d argue for a lesser sentence but added, “My hands are tied,” referring to state law that calls for a mandatory life sentence for a conviction of first-degree murder.

Freeman’s co-defendant William Durell Wilson, 31, of the first block of Zummo Way, Norristown, who prosecutors said supplied the gun to Freeman and was the getaway driver, faces sentencing later this year. The jury convicted Wilson of charges of third-degree murder, conspiracy, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime and unsworn falsification to law enforcement authorities in connection with the fatal shooting.

Wilson faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison on the third-degree murder charge. But Cauffman has said she plans to use a so-called “three strikes” law to potentially seek a life prison term against Wilson, who has previous convictions for violent offenses.

During the trial, Cauffman described Wilson as “the over confident general with an arsenal” and Freeman as the “battle-hardened 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 coprosecutor Roderick 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.

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 filed by county Detectives Michael Crescitelli and Kathleen Kelly.

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.