'Sovereign citizen' who decried law gets hearing in appeal of Edinboro Wendy's murder case

The man found guilty of a killing at the Wendy's restaurant near Edinboro in 2020 is trying to take advantage of the laws that he once disowned.

Markese Lampley is turning to those laws as he challenges his conviction.

The 24-year-old from Millcreek Township represented himself at trial after he declared himself a "sovereign citizen" whose real name is Mileage Galor Bey. He proclaimed that he is a Moor outside the jurisdiction of the American justice system.

But Lampley is seeking to benefit from that same justice system as he appeals his conviction and sentence of life in state prison with no parole for fatally shooting Alexander Cavanah, 22, the manager at the Wendy's, during an attempted robbery.

Lampley was found guilty in 2021.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has sent his case back to Erie County Common Pleas Court for further review.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court stopped short of reversing Lampley's conviction in a unanimous decision filed on Tuesday.

But the panel — at the request of Lampley and his appellate lawyer — has ordered Erie County Judge John J. Trucilla to hold a hearing to determine whether Lampley fully understood the charges against him when Lampley affirmed at a hearing in June 2021 that he wanted to act as his own lawyer. Trucilla presided over the case.

Less than two weeks later, on July 2, 2021, Lampley was convicted at trial of second-degree murder, robbery, aggravated assault and other charges. The conviction for second-degree murder — a killing executed during a felony — carried an automatic life sentence. Trucilla also gave Lampley additional time of at least 13 years for his conviction for threatening seven other employees at Wendy's, including one as young as 15.

Appeals court focuses on 'elements of a crime'

At the pretrial hearing on June 21, 2021, Trucilla questioned Lampley at length about whether he understood his rights and recognized the consequences of representing himself, according to a transcript of the hearing that the Superior Court included in its decision.

"Are you voluntarily giving up your right to be represented by a lawyer?" Trucilla said to Lampley, according to the transcript. "In other words, is that your decision?"

"Yes, it's my choice," Lampley said.

The Superior Court said it was concerned about whether Lampley was clear on what the Erie County District Attorney's Office had to prove to convict him on all 21 charges he faced. A defendant must assent to understanding that type of information, called the elements of a crime, in agreeing to waive the right to have a lawyer provide representation.

Before Lampley represented himself, he had a lawyer, Jason Nard, of Pittsburgh, represent him. Nard was present at the June 2021 hearing at which Lampley said he wanted to represent himself, and Trucilla allowed Nard to act as Lampley's court-appointed stand-by counsel at trial. The Superior Court in its ruling focused on what it said Trucilla and Nard did at the June 2021 waiver hearing.

Trucilla at the hearing, known as colloquy, did not tell Lampley the elements of each offense that the prosecution had to prove against him, according to the Superior Court's 28-page decision.

Instead, according to the ruling, Trucilla asked Nard whether he had "explained the substance of the charges" to Lampley, and Nard said that he had done so.

The Superior Court said Nard's response lacked information.

"It is unclear, based upon the record, what was meant by the term 'substance' as it related to the charges," according to the ruling.

Because the case "contains ambiguity" as to whether Lampley had the elements of the crimes explained to him, the Superior Court panel said in the ruling, "we are constrained to remand this case to the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine what, if anything, was explained by Attorney Nard to Appellant (Lampley) about the elements of the crimes."

"In other words, the trial court shall determine what Attorney Nard meant when he stated he 'explained the substance of the case.'"

The Superior Court ordered Trucilla to hold a hearing on the issue in 60 days.

Could Markese Lampley get a new trial?

The outcome of the hearing will influence Lampley's efforts to get his conviction reversed based on his claims that, according to his appeal, he did not make "a knowing, voluntary and intelligent waiver of counsel." He would be entitled to a new trial if the appellate courts rule in his favor.

The District Attorney's Office is arguing that Trucilla apprised Lampley of all his rights at the hearing on his waiver of counsel.

"We believe the colloquy was sufficient, and we believe that conclusion will be supported at the hearing," said the prosecutor on the case, First Assistant District Attorney Jessica Reger. She handled the case with the district attorney at the time, Jack Daneri.

Lampley is at the state prison in Greene County, in the southwestern corner of the state. On appeal, he and his court-appointed appellate lawyer, Jessica Fiscus, of the Erie County Public Defender's Office, did not challenge the evidence that led to Lampley's conviction for murder. They targeted, among other things, his waiver of counsel and other issues connected to his self-representation.

Defense not disputing evidence that led to murder conviction

The murder and attempted robbery at the center of the case occurred inside the Wendy's, off Route 6N and near Interstate 79 outside Edinboro, shortly after 2 p.m. on Jan. 25, 2020. Cavanah was trying to fight off Lampley when he was shot in the leg and back, according to testimony at trial.

The evidence against Lampley was plentiful. After hearing four days of testimony, the jury convicted him on July 2, 2020, in about an hour and 15 minutes, including time for lunch.

The evidence included Lampley's admission of guilt in phone calls he made from the Erie County Prison and in a letter he wrote to a district magistrate after his arrest.

Lampley in the letter said he tried to rob the Wendy's because he needed money for a real estate class, to get his general-equivalency diploma, to get the title for a BMW and to "take my baby mother" out to eat. In the letter he also said that he did not mean to kill Cavanah as Lampley tried to force another employee to open the restaurant's safe.

"Things wasn't meant to happen the way it played out," Lampley wrote. "I didn't mean to take his life."

Lampley was convicted of driving to the Wendy's on a motorcycle and storming into the restaurant, carrying a 9 mm handgun. He wore a mask and all black clothing, including his motorcycle helmet, according to testimony. He left the helmet behind as he fled the restaurant on his motorcycle and headed north on I-79.

The other evidence against Lampley included eyewitness testimony, surveillance video, gunshot residue on his hands, cell phone location data.

At Lampley's sentencing, Judge Trucilla referred to Cavanah as "a hero," and said he was killed while trying to protect his coworkers from Lampley. Trucilla contrasted Lampley's path in life with that of Cavanah, an Edinboro resident who formerly lived in Meadville. He was married and studying to be a pastor through the Church of the Nazarene.

"You were going in opposite directions," Trucilla told Lampley.

Lampley claimed he was protected under Moroccan treaty

Trucilla interacted with Lampley more than usual throughout the case because Lampley represented himself, claiming he was a "sovereign citizen." Lampley, like other criminal defendants nationwide who have adopted the last name Bey, claimed he was protected under a 1786 treaty, fully signed in 1787, in which Morocco recognized the newly independent United States.

"This court has no authority nor jurisdiction over me or no contract with me," Lampley told Trucilla at the hearing in June 2021.

"I reject that argument," Trucilla told him as he explained his rights.

Trucilla took steps to protect Lampley's rights after the conviction. As the Superior Court noted in its ruling, Lampley in May 2022 filed a motion to reinstate his appellate rights.

Trucilla granted the motion, according to the Superior Court, "due to the unique facts surrounding this case," including Lampley claiming he was a sovereign citizen and his decision to represent himself.

After granting that motion, Trucilla held a hearing to determine whether Lampley, who had claimed he was beyond the reach of the American justice system, wanted a lawyer on appeal.

Lampley "immediately requested to be assisted by counsel," according to the Superior Court ruling. Trucilla appointed Fiscus, the assistant public defender, to represent him.

She filed the appeal that landed the case before the Superior Court.

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

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Hearing ordered for 'sovereign citizen' in murder at Edinboro Wendy's