2 friends plotted to rob fentanyl dealers at Erie rental. One got prison in other's murder

Two Erie men, one 19 and the other 30, were friends. They were also partners in crime.

The relationship turned tragic for both.

The 30-year-old, Shannon Crosby, was killed when he and his friend Jamie D. Smith Jr., then 19, conspired to rob a group from Arizona of fentanyl at a short-term rental house on McClelland Avenue in Erie in January 2022.

The heist led to a shootout.

Crosby was killed and an Arizona man was wounded.

Smith was accused of firing during the fatal episode. He pleaded no contest on Thursday to third-degree murder and the first-degree felony of conspiracy to commit robbery.

Erie County Judge David Ridge then accepted a sentencing agreement between the District Attorney's Office and the defense and gave Smith the maximum possible term for his two crimes — 30 to 60 years in state prison.

Smith, now 21, will not be eligible for parole for three decades.

Two families mourn in a packed courtroom

Crosby leaves behind five children and other pained relatives and friends. They filled half the courtroom gallery on Thursday.

Smith's friends and family filled the other half.

"He has great sorrow for what happened to your son," Smith's court-appointed lawyer, Jason Nard, of Pittsburgh, speaking on Smith's behalf, told Crosby's family. "He was a friend of his."

Smith made no comments. His father was among those who spoke.

The father, also named Jamie Smith, apologized to Crosby's family, and he said the robbery plot was hatched out of youthful delusion. He emphasized that his son was not yet 21 at the time.

"This crime happened when they were kids," Smith said. "Someone with an intellectual mind would not have thought up something like this."

Smith said he himself had been in prison for most of his life. He said he regretted not being around for his son, who he said was so talented at basketball that he could have been college-bound. Instead, Smith said, his son was going to prison for the death of his friend.

Ridge followed up on his remarks.

"The entire situation is tragic," the judge said.

Plea deal spared defendant from possible life sentence

Jamie Smith Jr. pleaded no contest minutes before testimony was to begin in his trial. He was to be prosecuted with co-defendant Derrick S. Wright, 36, whose trial on charges including second-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy commenced as planned on Thursday.

Smith's no-contest plea to third-degree murder, an unpremeditated killing with malice, spared him a possible conviction for second-degree murder, a killing committed during a robbery or other felony. A conviction for second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence.

At the plea hearing, the lead prosecutor on the case, First Assistant District Attorney Jessica Reger outlined the evidence against Smith.

It included the testimony of the two others charged with Smith and Wright, Julia Gaerttner, 33, and Marsea S. Jones, 21; the testimony of at least one of the people Smith and the others were accused of robbing; and video clips.

Erie police accused Smith, Wright, Gaerttner and Jones of joining Crosby in an attempt to rob four Arizona men who had traveled to Erie to sell fentanyl pills and were staying at the short-term rental house, in the 3900 block of McClelland Avenue. The shootout occurred the late evening of Jan. 26 and early morning of Jan. 27, 2022.

Wright was the only defendant whose case went to trial this week.

Police charged the four Arizona men with drug offenses. Two pleaded guilty and were sentenced, and the other two are awaiting trial, according to court records.

Smith awaiting trial in another killing in Erie

Smith could end up going to prison for longer than 30 to 60 years. He is awaiting a trial in April in another homicide.

Smith is accused of taking part in a July 1, 2021, shooting into a duplex at West 29th and Cherry streets. One of the bullets struck an 18-year-old, Kalvin Davis, in the head, killing him, police said.

On Thursday, no one in court mentioned the other charges Smith is facing. The focus was on the killing before them.

"I'm heartbroken, sad, confused," Crosby's father, Cory McCray, told Ridge.

He said Smith's sentence would not ease his family's grief.

"Nothing is going to bring our son back," McCray said. "Nobody's winning right now."

Ridge said the case was another example of the drug-fueled gun violence that has plagued Erie.

"I'm sorry both families had to be here in this courtroom," he said. "Once again, we have drugs. Once again, we have guns. That combination made the outcome almost inevitable."

Reger, the prosecutor, also expressed her sympathy to all those in the courtroom. But she said "actions have consequences."

She said Smith deserved a lengthy sentence for participating in a robbery plot that ended with the murder of one of the participants — his friend, Shannon Crosby.

"They engaged in something together that ruined people's lives," Reger said.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: 21-year-old sentenced in friend's drug-related murder at Erie rental