Claim of self-defense marked closing arguments in murder trial

In front of the jury Friday, Allegheny County assistant district attorney Chelsie Pratt went over all the reasons why Daevon Plowden ought to be found guilty of first-degree murder.

The 30-year-old threatened in text messages to kill his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend in the days leading up to the May 25, 2016, shooting on Bellanca Avenue in Brentwood, she said.

Mr. Plowden changed into allblack clothing when the ex-boyfriend, Daniel Jones, stopped by that night to drop off a sleeping bag and bug spray for his daughter.

Mr. Plowden grabbed a loaded handgun and an extra magazine and sneaked around the side of the house, gun in hand, before opening fire in the street, she said.

Mr. Plowden intended to kill Mr. Jones that day, Ms. Pratt told the jury — but he killed Mr. Jones’ friend Tamar Taylor, 26, of Munhall, instead. Mr. Taylor had given Mr. Jones a ride to the house.

Mr. Taylor was hit in the back when Mr. Plowden unloaded 13 rounds, Ms. Pratt said. Mr. Jones was hit in the buttocks. They must have been running away when they were struck, she said during closing arguments in Mr. Plowden’s trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

“The defendant was the aggressor,” she said. “He was the provoker.”

But Mr. Plowden’s attorney, Ryan James, said Mr. Plowden acted in self-defense. Mr. Jones had

previously threatened Mr. Plowden with a firearm, he said. And on the night of the shooting, Mr. Jones pulled a firearm on Mr. Plowden, who fired only in reaction to the threat, he said.

No such gun was ever recovered by investigators, he said, because no one took the time to look.

“This whole case boils down to whether you believe Daniel Jones had a gun,” he told jurors during closing arguments. He suggested that Mr. Jones and his ex-girlfriend Lashawna Holmes, who was dating Mr. Plowden at the time of the shooting, lied to investigators.

He played a video that Mr. Jones recorded of himself after he had been shot while he was on a gurney in the ambulance with paramedics. In the video, Mr. Jones talks with paramedics, rants about how he could have died and said he was shot with a .40-caliber weapon.

At the end of the video, he flips off the camera with a bloody finger.

Mr. James paused the video on that frame and pointed to the screen. “That is who you are supposed to believe?” he said to the jury.

Jury deliberations begin Monday.