The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Trial begins for 2 accused in Norristown shooting
Two men were “loaded up as if they were soldiers” with guns and took part in the shooting and wounding of a man during a violent feud between rival groups from Pottstown and Norristown, a prosecutor argued to a jury.
“They hatched a plan, loaded up as if they were soldiers, multiple guns. They were hunting people with these firearms,” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kristen J. Kemp argued Monday as the joint trial of Jahleel C. Davis and Jamal Achilles Jones got under way.
Davis, 19, of the 300 block of Spruce Street, Pottstown, and Jones, 20, of Kingsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, face charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and possessing instruments of crime in connection with the 11:07 p.m. Aug. 8, 2017, shooting of 26-year-old Kendal Rosendary in the 800 block of Cherry Street in Norristown.
But defense lawyers Christopher Koschier, who represents Davis, and Francis Genovese, who represents Jones, argued prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to support the accusations and that there is enough reasonable doubt to acquit the men of the charges.
“This is not a whodunit,” Koschier argued during his opening statement, suggesting however,
that the men acted in selfdefense and acted with legal justification. “In reality people in Norristown were trying to kill them.”
Genovese argued the evidence presented by investigators will fall “woefully short” and won’t support Kemp’s claim of a conspiracy and intent to kill.
“The evidence will support the inference that my client was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when shots rang out,” Genovese argued on behalf of Jones.
The trial before Judge Richard P. Haaz is expected to last several days.
Rosendary, of Philadelphia, survived the attack but was shot about 15 times and was treated for life-threatening injuries, according to testimony.
“His body was riddled with bullets. His body is a shell of what it used to be. His life is changed forever,” Kemp argued.
A third man, Taron Malik Ebo-Wilson, 21, of the 1000 block of Elbridge Street, Philadelphia, previously pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the shooting and was sentenced under a plea agreement to 8-to-20-years in prison and 20 years’ probation, for a total of 40 years of supervision. “The three men had a plan. They picked a target, whether it was meant to be Kendal or not,” Kemp argued, indicating it’s unclear why Rosendary specifically was targeted. “But we do know they showed no mercy to Kendal Rosendary’s body after they fired round after round after round into his flesh.”
Kemp suggested the shooting is tied to a violent “feud” between individuals from Pottstown, who sometimes refer to themselves as “ATM or BGB,” and individuals from Norristown — the same feud previously linked to the July 6, 2017, gunshot slaying in Norristown of Jordan Scott, 16, of Pottstown.
Kemp suggested Davis was friends with Scott and he was angry about what happened to Scott and went to Norristown on Aug. 8 with Jones and Ebo-Wilson to retaliate.
Kemp has suggested that although Rosendary was not tied to the particular Norristown group against whom the defendants were allegedly retaliating, the victim’s presence in Norristown made him the nearly fatal and unlucky target of the ongoing feud.
Rosendary testified he didn’t know Scott nor the men accused of shooting him.
“I was just walking up the street, Cherry Street. It was random. It came out of nowhere. When I turned around all I saw was (gun) fire. I tried running,” Rosendary told the jury, claiming the incident happened so quickly that he could not identify the shooters.
Rosendary denied having a gun, said he didn’t confront the defendants before the shots rang out and was at a loss as to why he was targeted.
Rosendary testified he spent months in a hospital, underwent multiple surgeries and is still recovering from his injuries.
During a jury trial in April, Isaiah “Zay” Freeman, 19, of Norristown, was convicted of first-degree murder as the triggerman in Scott’s slaying and is serving a sentence of life imprisonment. Freeman was 18 at the time of the killing.
William Durell Wilson, 32, also of Norristown, who prosecutors said supplied the gun to Freeman and was the getaway driver during Scott’s slaying, was convicted of third-degree murder and was sentenced to 35-to-70-years in prison.
The investigation into the alleged roles of Davis, Jones and Ebo-Wilson in Rosendary’s shooting began when Norristown police received a 911 call at 11:07 p.m. Aug. 8 regarding two groups of males causing a disturbance in the street and threatening to fight.
Upon arrival, Norristown Police Lieutenant Kenneth Lawless testified he heard gunshots in the area of the 700 block of Cherry Street and observed a projectile passing through trees and above his head. Detectives subsequently recovered 21 fired 9 mm, .40-caliber and .45-caliber shell casings in the area.
Immediately after gunfire erupted, a gray Chevrolet Impala pulled out into the 800 block of Cherry Street and began traveling north toward West Elm Street. Police used a patrol vehicle to block the car’s path and Davis, Jones and Ebo-Wilson jumped out and fled on foot, ignoring officers’ commands to stop, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Gregory Henry and Norristown Detective David Mazza.
Police checked the vehicle and recovered a black revolver in the back seat and a Glock pistol magazine in the passenger’s side door compartment.
Police subsequently found Ebo-Wilson and Jones hiding under a porch in the rear of a home in the 800 block of Swede Street, along with a .40-caliber Glock handgun, according to the criminal complaint.
An officer searching the back yard of a residence in the 800 block of Cherry Street found Davis hiding behind an air conditioning unit.