Woman’s ‘execution’ played for jurors
NORRISTOWN >> Jurors were riveted as the blood-curdling screams of a Pottstown woman, interspersed between three gunshots, blared from an audio recording that prosecutors used to dramatically open the trial for the man accused of killing the woman.
“Three shots, to the legs, her chest and to the back of her head, executionstyle,” Montgomery County Deputy District Attorney Samantha Cauffman said during her opening statement to jurors on Monday as the trial for ac- cused killer Bobbie “Steels” Mitchell Jr. got under way in connection with the Easter Sunday 2018 gunshot slaying of Siani Overby.
“He put the gun right up to the back of her head and pulled the trigger,” Cauffman continued.
The audio recording, captured by a home surveillance system in the 300 block of Johnson Street, the same block where the alleged homicide occurred, revealed the final seconds of Overby’s life.
Cauffman suggested the audio recording provides evidence
of Mitchell’s deliberate conduct. After the first two gunshots, Overby is still heard screaming but after the third gunshot, Overby becomes silent.
Cauffman and co-prosecutor Richard Bradbury Jr. suggested to the jury of seven men and seven women that Mitchell, 37, fatally shot Overby, 23, his former girlfriend, because he feared she would alert police about his illegal drug dealing and firearm selling if he didn’t agree to pay child support and continue their relationship.
“All the defendant wanted was to put an end to the threat Siani posed to his way of life,” Cauffman argued.
But defense lawyer Evan Hughes, referring to the audiotape, argued prosecutors are playing on the “emotions” of jurors and that they don’t have sufficient evidence to prove Mitchell is the killer.
“The commonwealth has built a case based on emotion and circumstantial evidence,” said Hughes, arguing there are no DNA tests, fingerprints or eyewitnesses to link Mitchell to the crime.
Mitchell, wearing a dark, grey suit, showed no emotion
as the chilling audiotape was played in court. Hughes did not reveal if Mitchell will testify during the trial.
Mitchell, of Oak Street, faces charges of first- and third-degree murder and possession of a prohibited firearm in connection with Overby’s death.
The trial before Judge Todd D. Eisenberg is expected to last about three days.
A conviction of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
Carlton Overby, the victim’s brother, recalled Mitchell threatening his sister in the past and flashing a handgun during one heated encounter.
“He threatened her life. He said he would kill her,” Carlton Overby testified, recalling a previous argument between the couple, adding he overheard Mitchell say, “If you mess up my operation I will kill you.”
Dr. Frederic Hellman, a forensic pathologist, testified an autopsy determined Siani Overby suffered multiple gunshot wounds, to the legs, chest and head. Hellman told jurors he found gunpowder residue on the
head wound.
“The muzzle is very, very close to the skin, just not flush up against it,” Hellman testified. “This is an execution-type gunshot.”
The homicide investigation began when Pottstown police responded to the 300 block of Johnson Street at 1:58 a.m. on April 1, 2018, for a report of a woman screaming and shots fired.
“I heard screaming, really loud screaming,” Mike McCarty, a neighborhood resident, testified for Bradbury, adding he then heard a “Boom” sound followed by more screaming and another gunshot.
Another nearby resident, Virgilio Maldonado, testified he heard a woman scream, “Please don’t do it,” as gunshots rang out. When he went outside Maldonado said he observed the victim and ran to help her.
“I tried to feel her pulse. I couldn’t find any. She didn’t have no (sic) pulse,” Maldonado testified.
Witnesses testified they observed a lone male figure running or “darting” away from the area around the time of the shooting but couldn’t make out facial features or positively identify the subject.
Officers arrived to find Overby, suffering fatal wounds from multiple gunshots, lying on the sidewalk next to a fence.