Slaying trial opens
Don Durant Jr. remembers vividly his cousin being shot. The bullet whizzed past his face, leaving gun powder traces on his clothes because it came so close, testified Durant, 36, of Brownsville.
Then, he testified, the bullet hit 25-year-old Tony Thomas in the neck on Nov. 29, and he fell to the ground and died.
Durant’s testimony, oftentimes loud and accompanied by grandiose arm gestures, came Monday in the Fayette County trial of 23-year-old Tyrique “Ghetto” Patterson, the man accused of killing Thomas.
But while prosecutors allege that Patterson planned Thomas’ 3 a.m. murder in Brownsville’s South Hills Terrace housing project, Patterson’s attorney, William Diffinderfer, contended that the shooting was self defense. He told jurors in his opening remarks that Thomas was the aggressor during an earlier argument and, ultimately, at the time of his shooting death.
Durant, however, testified that he and Thomas did not expect trouble when they left the Dunlap Elks Lodge and headed to South Hills Terrace. The two left after Thomas and Patterson “had words” about an alleged confrontation Patterson had with Thomas’ younger brother, Jason, earlier that night.
When Durant and Thomas pulled up in South Hills Terrace, however, he testified that Patterson and his fianc’e, Tamika Withrow, were outside their housing unit across the street from Thomas’. Withrow, testified Thomas, had a gun out and was “making terroristic threats.”
Once she put the gun away, Durant testified Patterson took a step forward and shot his cousin in the neck.
“He shot my cousin in cold blood. It was cold blooded ant it wasn’t even right,” testified Durant, standing and yelling.
While he couldn’t remember specific details, like whom, other than Withrow, Thomas and Patterson were there at the time of the shooting, Durant testified he was certain that Thomas did not have a weapon on him at the time.
“He didn’t have no gun when he got shot. He didn’t have no gun when Brownsville police showed up. He had a sweat jacket in one hand and a cell phone and keys in the other,” testified Durant.
When Diffinderfer asked him to expand that answer, Durant accused him of “playing games” and trying to trip up his testimony.
At one point, Durant got so loud that Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi had to quiet him down.
“Your honor, I’m sorry, but (Diffinderfer’s) trying to twist my words up and he ain’t coming at me straight,” said Durant. “That young man there murdered my cousin,” he continued, pointing to Patterson.
To affirmative nods and murmurs of agreement from family and friends of Thomas, Durant testified that he would never have taken his cousin back to South Hills Terrace if he thought there was any danger.
The six-man, six-woman panel also heard testimony from Jacob R. Hackett, 23, of Brownsville, who testified that he was standing “shoulder to shoulder” with Thomas when he was shot.
It was Hackett who testified he called Tony Thomas to the Dunlap Elks Patterson and Jason Thomas got into a brief fight inside the establishment. But when Tony Thomas arrived, Hackett testified he didn’t know where Jason Thomas was.
When Tony Thomas and Durant left, Hackett testified he did too, and arrived before them at Thomas’ South Hills Terrace home. There, Hackett testified he saw Withrow outside holding a gun. Then, Thomas pulled up and Hackett testified he and Patterson fought verbally.
“Then Ghetto took about two or three steps off the sidewalk and shot Tony in his neck,” testified Hackett. “I seen the blood just spray from his neck. It was a thick stream.”
Hackett also testified he watched Patterson run from the scene and put a gun to the head of a woman who was driving her car into the housing project. The driver got out of the car, testified Hackett, and Patterson drove away.
Diffinderfer told jurors in his opening remarks that Patterson drove to his mother’s home in Trenton, N.J., where he consulted with his sister, and tried to turn himself to local police. However, Diffinderfer said that when Patterson and his sister went to police, they told him there was not a warrant issued for his arrest. There later was, said Diffinderfer, and Patterson surrendered.
He was brought back to Pennsylvania in December.
Withrow was also charged in the case. The 21-year-old South Hills Terrace woman was charged with threatening Thomas’ girlfriend, Mary Tobias, at the time Thomas was fatally shot. She is charged with terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person.
First Trial Assistant District Attorney Joseph M. George Jr. told jurors that prosecutors are seeking a first-degree murder conviction in the criminal homicide case.
First-degree murder carries with it an automatic life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Diffinderfer, meanwhile, told jurors he is seeking an acquittal because Patterson was defending himself.
Testimony before Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi will pick up this morning.