Witness goes back on police statement in 2019 murder trial

Claims he was directed to include defendant's name

A man testifying under immunity in a murder trial claimed that police directed him to write the name of accused killer Ronald Collins Jr. in a statement, though a former detective who worked on the case denied ever saying that.

Khaliyl Wilson told Assistant District Attorney Geoff Paine that he provided a statement at the Darby Police Station three days after 25-year-old Maurese Kegler Jones was gunned down outside 98 S. Sixth St. on the afternoon of

Feb. 16, 2019.

Wilson was with Kegler Jones and another person on the steps and entryway outside the residence when a gunman walked up and fired eight shots at the victim. Paine said six of those shots hit Kegler Jones, including five in the head.

Detectives identified Collins as the shooter after reviewing surveillance footage that showed the gunman running from the scene.

Wilson said he saw Kegler Jones and Darron Henderson at a bar Feb. 16, and that the two of them had gone into the bathroom together. Video surveillance presented earlier indicated they were in there for a few minutes.

Henderson is the brother of

Aaron Henderson, who was killed by gunfire in December 2017. Retired Darby Detective Brian Pitts worked on that case and said Kegler Jones and another man, Rashaad Overton, were present when Henderson was killed, but no charges were ever filed. Overton’s home was later shot up, said Pitts, and he was also later shot himself. Overton is now either in a vegetative state or paraplegic, Pitts said.

Wilson said he left the bar with Kegler Jones and got into a car driven by a woman he did not know. The three went to South Sixth Street and the female driver stayed in the car. Wilson, Kegler Jones and another person were talking outside when the gunman approached and fired, striking only Kegler Jones in what Paine said was a targeted attack.

An original statement Wilson provided said, “We all talking about the old days and then somebody walked up and started shooting and then I ran.”

Wilson said he was directed to scratch out “somebody” and put “JR,” for “Junior,” the name he knew Collins by. Wilson also identified Collins in a photo array that same day and identified him in court during testimony.

But Wilson said Kegler Jones was standing behind him when the shots rang out and he did not get a good look at the shooter, only seeing him from behind as he ran away. He added that he did not recognize the person who shot Kegler Jones and was not aware of seeing Collins at all that day.

“I was told I had to put his name in there,” Wilson said. “I understand there’s a dead body and a murder, and that’s tragic, but at the same time if I didn’t see someone’s face, that would be wrong on my end to put somebody behind bars for life if I didn’t see his face. …Other than that, everything in here is accurate other than — you can see where I had to revise it.”

Wilson told defense counsel Mike Dugan that he did not have an attorney with him when providing the statement and was unsure if he was able to leave un

til he offered a name. Wilson said he told detectives right away that he did not know who the shooter was.

Pitts was recalled to the stand. He said he had issued a “BOLO,” or “Be On the Look Out” for Wilson, and to detain him for questioning, but said it was never enforced because Wilson came into the station himself.

Pitts also said Wilson was never told he could not leave or that he had to put anything into the

statement that was not true.

“I asked him, I said, ‘If you know who it is, you should put down who it is,’” said Pitts. “He wrote down ‘JR.’ I had no idea who ‘JR’ even was.”

Henderson, who pleaded guilty in a federal firearms case last month, was also called in from a federal detention center to testify, but refused to answer any of Paine’s questions. Judge John Capuzzi indicated he would be charged with contempt.

Jurors also heard from Delaware County Detective Louis Grandizio, a firearms and tool markings

expert, who reviewed eight 9mm shell casings and four projectiles from outside the property, as well as a .380 shell and projectile found in the basement and a 9mm Glock taken from Kegler Jones.

Grandizio said all of the 9mm casings were fired from the same weapon, but not from the one found on Kegler Jones and that the suspected firearm used in this case had not been recovered. Grandizio said he was not able to microscopically match the projectiles to any casing.

Testimony is expected to resume Monday.