Focus is on cooperating witnesses as trial opens in fatal Erie marijuana 'lick'
Four Erie men are standing trial on second-degree murder charges in the December 2019 fatal shooting of Patric Phillips, a small-time marijuana dealer killed at the door of his apartment in a planned robbery of pot and cash.
In street parlance, the robbery plot was called a "lick."
Two people who are not on trial in the case are getting as much attention as the four defendants.
As the case against the four men started in Erie County Common Pleas Court, both the prosecution and defense pointed to the importance of the two people not seated at the defense table — Michael Toles, 24, and his one-time girlfriend, Melissa A. Seaman, 21.
They are charged in a similar marijuana rip-off slaying, or lick, in Erie in January 2020.
They are also listed as key witnesses — but, due to immunity deals, not defendants — in the case against the four accused in the robbery and death of the 25-year-old Phillips.
The four are Marshawn Williams, 25; Derrick D. Elverton, 21; Damarjon D. Beason, 20; and Anthony Blanks Jr., 19. They are charged with second-degree murder — a murder committed during a robbery or other felony — as well as robbery and other counts directly or as accomplices. They are also charged with conspiracy.
The District Attorney's Office is alleging Williams and Beason confronted Phillips with a gun during the fatal encounter at Williams' apartment at East 24th and Wayne streets shortly after 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2019; that Elverton was present outside Phillips' apartment when the shooting happened and was part of the robbery attempt; and that Blanks supplied the stolen handgun used in the killing.
The jury trial is before Erie County Judge Marshall Piccinini. Testimony is expected to last several days.
Opening statements
In his opening statement, on Thursday, the lead prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Lightner, said police used surveillance video, DNA testing and other evidence to charge the four defendants in the death of Phillips, whom he described as a dealer in small amounts of marijuana.
Lightner linked Toles and Seaman to the Phillips case.
He said Toles told Erie police detectives that he drove Williams, Elverton and Beason to the area of Phillips' apartment, and that he witnessed Blanks come up to the car and provide a handgun before Williams, Elverton and Beason got out and headed toward Phillips' place.
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As for Seaman, Lightner told the jury that she was in a car with Toles and Williams in the weeks before Phillips' death, including once when Williams went to Phillips' apartment in an unsuccessful attempt to rob him. Lightner indicated that Seaman, like Toles, was aware of the plan to rob Phillips — a plan that ultimately ended in his death.
"Michael Toles is not a good person," Lightner told the jury.
He explained that Toles had admitted to being involved in another murder — the fatal shooting of Devin Way, 26, another small-time marijuana dealer, in a car outside Way's residence near Peach Street, just north of the Millcreek Township line, on Jan. 19, 2020.
Earlier homicide case
Seaman and Toles were in the car when Way was killed, and so was Williams, one of the defendants accused of killing Phillips. In the Way case, Seaman testified at trial that she contacted Way about buying marijuana from him, and that Williams was driving the car when the group approached Way. Toles also testified.
Williams and the accused shooter in the Way case, Jakwaris Robison, 25, were convicted in March 2021 of all charges, including second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence with no parole.
In April 2021, Erie County Judge Daniel Brabender sentenced Williams to life without parole plus 13½ to 27 years in state prison. He sentenced Robison to life without parole plus 12 to 24 years.
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At the trial of Williams and Robison in the Way case, Seaman and Toles said they were both guilty of second-degree murder. But they are still awaiting prosecution in the case, and they were not charged in the Phillips case because of their cooperation, Lightner said in his opening statement in the Phillips case. Toles and Seaman are incarcerated, as are the defendants in the Phillips case.
Lightner in his opening statement also said the testimony of Seaman and Toles would support the more objective evidence in the Phillips case. That evidence, he said, includes DNA testing and the surveillance video that police also used to identify the four defendants.
The four defendants, Lightner said, left behind plenty of evidence on their own.
Referring to what the prosecution alleges was the conspiracy that ended in Phillips' death, Lightner said, "It is deadly, but it is not sophisticated."
Defense responds
The defense lawyers in their opening statements targeted the lack of charges against Seaman and Toles in the Phillips case. The defense lawyers said the two had received immunity in the case, and the lawyers urged the jurors to disregard the testimony of Toles and Seaman when they take the stand, arguing that their deals with the prosecution make them untrustworthy.
The defense lawyers also sought to portray Seaman and Toles as the true culprits behind Phillips' death.
"Melissa Seaman is the person who set up the 'lick' — her words, not mine," said Gene Placidi, the lawyer for Derrick Elverton.
The lawyer for Marshawn Williams, Mark Del Duca, of Pittsburgh, said Toles' cooperation amounted to "a get-out-of-jail-free card," and he called Seaman "a cold, calculated, hollow person."
Seaman takes the stand
Seaman testified on Friday. Toles' testimony was to come later in the case.
In her testimony, Seaman backed up what Lightner said in his opening statement about her involvement in the Phillips' case. She said she had been in a car with Williams and Toles twice in the weeks before his death, when the group scouting Phillips' residence for a possible "lick."
Seaman said she was at her apartment when Phillips was killed. She said she learned of his death when Williams and Toles arrived at the apartment afterward. Seaman said she had not been an active participant in the fatal robbery, though she acknowledged being in on the plans to carry out a "lick" on Phillips.
When Williams arrived at her apartment after Phillips' death, Seaman testified, "He said they went to go 'lick' Pat and it went bad."
Seaman testified that she was upset that she had not gone with the others to Phillips' residence on Dec. 7, 2019.
"I was supposed to be there," she said. "If I was there, I would have been able to make it go smooth."
On cross-examination, Seaman acknowledged that she would have expected to get a "cut" of the robbery proceeds if she had been on a "lick."
Cross-examination
Seaman also faced repeated questions about the immunity deal in the Phillips case, and what she expected in return for her cooperation in the Way case. Those questions came after Lightner, the prosecutor, brought up the immunity deal and Seaman's cooperation in the Way case on direct examination.
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Seaman told Lightner that she had no idea what sentence she would get in the Way case in return for her cooperation. Lightner asked Seaman repeatedly if he had emphasized to her that she had to tell the truth on the stand.
"Yeah," Seaman testified.
On cross-examination, Placidi, Elverton's lawyer, zeroed in on the immunity deal and what Seaman expected to get in as a sentence in the Way case. If Seaman were to get convicted of second-degree murder, she would face a mandatory life sentence with no parole, although a plea deal would allow for her to get convicted of third-degree murder or another lesser charge.
Seaman told Placidi that her understanding is that she would be sentenced in the Way case sometime after she testified in the Phillips case.
"I am sure you are not expecting a life sentence," Placidi said to Seaman.
"I hope not," she said.
Placidi asked Seaman what kind of sentence she hoped to get.
"Hope for the best," she said.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie homicide trials:4 men accused of killing over marijuana 'lick'
