Wilkinsburg homicide charges withdrawn
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office withdrew homicide charges against a Hazelwood man last month after the judge in the case found that police had no probable cause to make the arrest.
Deshere Davenport, 19, was charged with killing Khalil Andrew Logan, 18, of Wilkinsburg on Sept. 10, 2018, at an abandoned building on Laketon Road in Wilkinsburg. Mr. Logan was found dead at the scene with gunshot wounds to his head and neck, police said. Mr. Davenport was taken into custody a short time later.
However, his defense attorney filed a motion to suppress the evidence investigators obtained from him, which Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Thomas E. Flaherty granted on March 2.
The DA’s office has said will not appeal.
“Although there was an evidentiary ruling adverse to our office being able to move forward at this time, this homicide investigation remains open and active,” said Mike Manko, a spokesman with the DA’s office.
In the hours before Mr. Logan was killed, Wilkinsburg officers were doing a saturation patrol in the area because of recent shootings there. Two officers on patrol that evening noticed a man — later identified as Mr. Davenport — watching them. They characterized him as “suspicious,” and noted he was wearing a puffy jacket with his hood up and his hands in his pockets.
A short time later, there was a 911 call for shots fired, and the officers discovered Mr. Logan’s body about 50 feet from where they had seen Mr. Davenport.
The officers put out a notice to other law enforcement in the area to be on the lookout for the man. A short time later, a Penn Hills officer saw Mr. Davenport and stopped him. He asked the man his name and patted him down. When Mr. Davenport tried to move away, the officer handcuffed him. He was taken to the Wilkinsburg police department, where he underwent a gunshot residue test and then later was transported to Allegheny County police headquarters.
Mr. Davenport was held for 11 hours, and during that time, police said, he gave investigators permission to search through the contents of his cellphone — where they found an image from that day of a 9 mm handgun. He waived his right to remain silent and allegedly confessed to killing Mr. Logan.
But defense attorney Lisa Middleman argued in a motion to suppress that there was no probable cause to support her client’s arrest.
“In the instant matter, Mr. Davenport was not subjected to it
a lawful arrest, for the police lacked both reasonable suspicion for an investigative detention and probable cause for a formal arrest at the time he was initially detained by the Penn Hills Police department,” Ms. Middleman wrote.
Because of that, she continued, they were not permitted to conduct the gunshot residue test or search his phone.
“Mr. Davenport’s ultimate decision to waive his right to counsel and his right to remain silent were the product of an ongoing string of illegality and police misconduct that began with his initial detention,” Ms. Middleman argued. “Where the entirety of an encounter with the police has been tainted from its inception by a suspicionless and unlawful arrest, the commonwealth cannot show that any decisions thereafter by an individual in police custody are knowing or voluntary.”
In the prosecution’s response, Assistant District Attorney Chris Stone argued that the initial officers had reasonable suspicion to stop Mr. Davenport based on his conduct.
“Police are permitted to stop and briefly detain citizens whenever police have reasonable suspicion, based on specific and articulable facts, that criminal activity may be afoot,” he wrote. “Prior to learning of the apparent murder, the policemen noted Davenport’s continuous monitoring of the officers’ presence, his downcast eyes and body position, his variance of pace to gain distance from the police car after it passed, and his unusual route which ensured that officers in a vehicle could not continuously monitor him. All of those observations justifiably warrant some modicum of suspicion, or curiosity at the very least.”
Later, the prosecutor continued, the body was discovered near where Mr. Davenport had been.
Mr. Stone admitted in his response that he could not find a case involving an investigative detention as long as the 11 hours Mr. Davenport was held.
“However, in this case, the gravity of the offense under investigation, the suspicious conduct of the defendant, and the defendant’s evasive and deceptive conduct during the interview warranted the prolonged nature of the detention,” Mr. Stone wrote.
In his findings of fact and conclusions of law filed on March 2, Judge Flaherty wrote that he believed the initial Wilkinsburg officers had reasonable suspicion to suspect Mr. Davenport may have been engaged in criminal conduct. He also found that the Penn Hills officer’s stop of Mr. Davenport was an appropriate “investigatory detention.”
“However, this court finds nothing in the record to support a finding that exigent circumstances existed that necessitated transportation of defendant to Wilkinsburg police department.”
Once he was handcuffed, the judge wrote, and taken to the police station, Mr. Davenport was subject to a custodial arrest, which required probable cause.
Deputy District Attorney Stephie Ramaley submitted paperwork withdrawing the charges on March 24. Mr. Davenport was released from the county jail a day later.
“Although there was an evidentiary ruling adverse to our office being able to move forward at this time, this homicide investigation remains open and active.”
— Mike Manko, spokesman, Allegheny County district attorney’s office