Judge denies motion, teen will be tried as adult in double fatal shooting
16-year-old accused of killing two men in Chester in 2021
Court of Common Pleas Judge George Pagano on Tuesday denied a motion from alleged teen murderer Namai Sincere Melvin to send his case to juvenile court.
Melvin, 16, of the 2600 block of Curran Street, is one of three defendants in the shooting deaths of 19-year-old Kwann Henderson and 20-year-old Rasheen Jones on Feb. 1, 2021. Jones was an aspiring Philadelphia rapper who performed under the stage name RunUp Rico.
Melvin was 15 years old at the time the victims were shot to death inside a car on the 1100 block of West Third Street. Also charged are Darren Majeed, 27, of Wilmington, Delaware, and 17-year-old Tracy Williams, both of whom allegedly conspired via text messages to set up a robbery of Jones the day he was murdered. James Williams, a fourth person allegedly involved in the case, was killed March 6, 2021.
Chester police Officer Robert Shaughnessy said at a preliminary hearing for Melvin last year that he was called to the area of Third and Pennell streets about 7:23 p.m. for a report of a shooting and arrived about a minute later.
Shaughnessy said he found 20 to 30 people near a silver Chevrolet Impala that had crashed into a building on the 1100 block of West Third Street. Henderson and Jones were found partially or fully out of the driver’s side door of the Impala.
Jones, still lying somewhat in the vehicle, had no pulse and Henderson, who had made it completely out, was lying unconscious on the ground with a faint pulse, Shaughnessy said.
Henderson was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Delaware County Detective Timothy Deery testified at that preliminary hearing that Melvin and another man he identified as Williams met with the victims shortly before the shooting. Deery said Melvin was inside the vehicle in the rear drivers-side while Williams was outside the driver’s side window. The victims were sitting in the front seats.
Deery narrated video surveillance that he said showed Williams reaching into the car and appearing to struggle with the driver.
“Then you’re going to see (Williams) reach in his pocket, and then he’s going to lift his arm up, then he runs,” said Deery.
The Impala moves a short distance before crashing into a building and then Melvin is seen running from the vehicle with a package, Deery said. A similar package containing approximately a halfpound of marijuana was found on the front floorboards of the vehicle, along with a .40 caliber spent cartridge casing and a .45- caliber projectile, Deery said.
The Delaware County medical examiner’s reports for both victims indicated they had died from gunshot wounds suffered from the back and that each had a .40-caliber round lodged in their hearts, Detective David Tyler said.
The day before the shooting, Deery said, Melvin had taken pictures of himself with a silverand-black handgun colloquially known as a “salt-and-pepper 40,” said Deery. Within an hour and a half of the shooting, Deery said Melvin had texted three or four people indicating he had marijuana to sell.
Pagano heard from defense expert witness Dr. Kirk Heilbrun last month, who reviewed documents related to the case and interviewed Melvin at the county jail in Concord.
Heilbrun told defense counsel Michael Malloy that Melvin reported various hardships in the 15 years before his arrest, including being bullied, having to move eight times and changing schools, and having a father who was in and out of his life due to incarceration.
Heilbrun found Melvin poses a moderate risk for future violence, though he acknowledged to Deputy District Attorney Matthew Krouse that that is based on other youths facing charges for violent crimes and that the risk would be higher when compared to peers outside the justice system.
There were some symptoms of hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder along with depression and anxiety, said Heilbrun, and Melvin’s academic skills are below grade level. He had been suspended from school on numerous occasions for fighting and was expelled from one middle school.
Heilbrun described Melvin as a “follower,” and said his father and grandmother described him as gullible and easily manipulated. Melvin does have strong family support, however, and could be amenable to moving away from criminality toward a more positive life if he were in a structured environment that pushed him toward that goal, Heilbrun concluded.
Dr. William Russell, testifying
for the commonwealth, said he had also met with Melvin and reviewed various documents, including Heilbrun’s reports.
Russell found that Melvin tends to downplay his own culpability in adverse events, such as bullying incidents where he may have actually provoked many of those skirmishes himself, and has a pattern of disregarding sanctions placed against him.
Melvin was on probation at the time of the murder for a weapons charge, for instance. Among the evidence in that case was a picture of Melvin holding a handgun and gunfire strike marks to two nearby homes, Krouse noted.
Russell said Melvin consistently tested positive for marijuana while on probation and disappeared for three months after cutting off his ankle monitor.
Melvin has also had three incidents during his incarceration at the George W. Hill jail. He allegedly helped another inmate beat up a third juvenile offender in August 2021, and in October 2022 allegedly pushed corrections officers
away from assisting a guard who had been assaulted by another inmate.
Russell was also concerned about the time limit placed on juvenile detentions.
With Melvin turning 17 next month, he would have a little more than four years in the system before he is released at age 21.
Juvenile placements are also reviewed every 90 days and there was some concern Melvin would game the system for an early release by appearing cooperative and compliant, then reverting back to criminal behavioral once he is on the streets, Russell said.
“The level of callousness, the level of unemotional flatness that is alleged in the affidavit of probable cause — the evidence presented that the gentlemen were shot in the back, (Melvin) was in the back seat — reflects a treatment need that will take many years to change,” said Russell. “This kind of behavior reflects a deeply ingrained defect in personality development.”
Trial is scheduled for June 22.