Judge lets obstruction charge stand in Carbondale homicide case
May 15—An obstruction-of-justice charge will stand against the father of a Moosic man accused of fatally shooting another man in Carbondale last year, a Lackawanna County judge ruled Monday.
Judge Margaret Bisignani Moyle found prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to send the case against Angelo C. Smith, 49, to trial in denying his motion for habeas corpus after a more than two-hour-long hearing.
Moyle made no immediate ruling on a similar motion by Smith's son, Taaj Qaadir Blan, 22, who faces first- and third-degree murder and other charges in the death of Pernell Simmons.
His attorney, William Thompson, told the judge he will be filing additional briefs.
Blan is accused of shooting Simmons, 35, multiple times from a vehicle the night of Aug. 8 in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 185 Fallbrook St. The incident, which state police say followed a disagreement over a drug deal that fell through, was captured on surveillance video.
Blan was taken into custody the next morning after police stopped a car in which he was a passenger near the Carbondale YMCA.
Trooper Girard Dempsey testified at Monday's hearing that police recovered a 9 mm handgun, later determined to be the weapon used to shoot Simmons, from a leopard-print backpack on the backseat of the vehicle.
Smith, of Carbondale, is one of three people facing obstruction, hindering apprehension and evidence tampering charges in the case.
Blan's mother, Margaret A. Del Castillo, 46, of Moosic, was arrested the day after the shooting after investigators say she left a Carbondale home in the car her son was driving during the killing. The clothes he wore during the incident were found during a search of the vehicle, troopers said.
Smith and a Carbondale woman, Erica Lynn Searcy, 39, were not charged until November.
Searcy, called as a witness at Monday's hearing, testified she was awakened the morning of Aug. 9 at the Cemetery Street home she shared with Smith to conversations taking place in the living room involving Smith, Blan and others.
She said Smith told her she needed to give Blan a ride, and shortly after they left the home police pulled her over.
Searcy said she had a handgun in her purse during the stop but was unaware of the second weapon, which police said was registered to Del Castillo, in the leopard-print backpack.
She testified Smith never indicated to her that Blan was involved in a shooting. When she later confronted Smith about the handgun recovered in the backpack, she said, he told her it was a "safer option than to have it on his person" at that time.
In challenging the obstruction count against his client, Smith's attorney, Terrence McDonald, argued the charge requires a suspect to have notice of an investigation.
"They have to know there is an investigation in order to obstruct it," he told the judge.
Moyle disagreed and denied the motion. She also denied a request by McDonald to sever Smith's case from Blan's case.
Thompson tried several times during the hearing to explore whether Simmons made threats against Blan or acted in a threatening manner prior to the shooting, leading to repeated objections from Deputy District Attorney Sara Varela.
Moyle said the surveillance video appeared to show a back and forth before the shooting and it was "clear Mr. Simmons was excited about something." However, it is an issue that would be appropriately raised before a jury, she said.
"I just don't see how it's relevant for today's purposes," the judge said.
The case is scheduled for trial July 31.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132
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