Anwar ashmore philadelphia

A ballistic analysis completed two months later revealed that it was the same Colt 45 that had killed Anwar Ashmore. But by the time of the trial, Spearman and Brown would change their stories, and Jones and Devlin were nowhere to be found. Jones had long been close to Ashmore. In fact, Ashmore had basically lived with Jones' family to escape a difficult relationship with his mother, and Jones disputes the police claim that he witnessed Ashmore's killing [note: Ashmore's aunt later disputed Jones' claim that Ashmore had a poor relationship with his mother].

He says that he was broken up over the recent murder of another friend that night, and was getting high somewhere else in the neighborhood.

You know what I'm saying? I heard about it. I was on another block. But prosecutors called it a chilling telegram. You leave me no choice. I leave you no voice. I thought we was boys. Witnesses were soon under fire — in particular, Kaheem Brown, a Team A member and the very kid whose attempted shooting by a York Street member had supposedly incited Ashmore's murder. Police were told that Brown's signed statement implicating Thomas was posted around the neighborhood.

On light posts. In Chinese stores. Brown, police, neighbors and even friends say, had dedicated his life to avenging Calvin Alexander's death. Now, after years of war with York Street, he was being hunted by his own friends and neighbors. In August , Brown ran into his mother's house: He said a man named Darren Hainesworth was trying to kill him, prosecutors say. Hainesworth had recently approached Brown's mother, Stephanie Alexander, and warned against her son cooperating with prosecutors.

At 31st and Huntingdon, police found seven bullet casings on the ground. Ten days later, a man named Rashann James was observed speaking to a major player on 30th Street. Then, he walked into a laundromat, approached Stephanie Alexander and put a gun against her head. She fell to her knees screaming. James twice pulled the trigger, but it jammed. Soon thereafter, bullets were fired at Brown's house on Myrtlewood Street. Stephanie Alexander still lives on that block today, her living room window pierced by two bullet holes patched over with packing tape.

When a reporter knocked on the door, a man leaned out the second-floor window and politely declined an interview. She lost one son. All of 'em was good. Calvin was a good man. He just got up in the street stuff. The street chronicles. One stabbed him with a pen. In a phone call recorded by the prison system, Spearman described the attack to his brother. According to prosecutors, "H" referred to Hollow Man, or Thomas. Police say that over the next two years, Ronald Thomas coordinated a brazen campaign of witness intimidation from behind bars.

In late November , it bore significant fruit: Rafael Spearman signed an affidavit stating that he, not Thomas, had murdered Anwar Ashmore.

But in January , Spearman told Thomas' defense investigator visiting him in prison that his confession was false.

According to the investigator's report, Spearman said he only wrote it after "someone slipped a letter under his [cell] door" directing him to confess "or something was going to happen to him. Later, in March , a call went out on police radio. Shots had been fired on Stanley Street near Huntingdon, and officers found Darren Hainsworth walking from the scene in a hurry. He told police that he was just urinating on an abandoned building.

Inside, police found a bag with a 9 mm gun holding nine live rounds. The bag also contained an envelope addressed to "Dee Haynes" from Ronald Thomas. It included a copy of Kaheem Brown's witness statement to police. As Thomas' trial approached this year, witnesses not already in custody were nowhere to be found. When police arrived, Jones, who had been tweeting from inside, was gone. Troy Devlin was likewise not locatable. Asked where he was that night last March, Jones smiles and says that he had someplace else to be.

But Jones says his cell phone contains strong evidence that police are wrong. It's a photo of Jones and Thomas. They clasp hands before a tropical jungle, one of the incongruously scenic photo backdrops available to visitors seeking a snapshot with an incarcerated loved one.

Spearman, say police, has covered up his Team A tattoo. But he nonetheless refused to testify against Thomas. Instead, he claimed on the stand, once again, that he had shot Ashmore once. This time, he said that Dennis Williams, or Den-Den, a 30th Street man who was murdered in July , had fired the second shot.

Thomas was convicted of Ashmore's murder and sentenced to life in prison. Rashann James was convicted of the attempted murder of Stephanie Alexander, and is now serving 10 to 20 years.

That's a deep friend that I lost. Back on the block, the war years' anxiety and chaos precipitated a baby boom. But now "all them guys down there beefing and warring, all of them got little sons and daughters. At least, if they can find something else to do. Hoodstock is a music festival and block party in the heart of Strawberry Mansion. On Labor Day, a stage is erected from the back of a graffiti-covered delivery truck with a flashing dance floor composed of blinking tiles. It is what's not happening at events like Hoodstock that is most important.

For the past eight years this has been a gift to Hollywood Street from Phillips, the man who says he started Trey-O. This, he says, is what Trey-O is about: music, water ice, grilled chicken and jello shots — an antidote to the ain't-shit-to-do sense of boredom and despair.

You not coming to The Yacht doing no dumb stuff. No fuckery's happening on The Yacht. That's basically the difference between a block and a Yacht. This is the Yacht Boys' slogan. They sell T-shirts. But it's not easy to squash a beef. Charles Wesley's friends and 30th Street, sources say, have been at peace since Wesley was locked up on drug charges in a federal penitentiary.

The big target was gone. Lots of other people are locked up. Many more are dead. You're not thinking about birthdays, you're not thinking about getting older, because you're just — survive. You're not trying to get shot. So do the Browns. In October , Wesley's other brother, Donald, was shot dead.

A third Brown brother was shot in August A young Corley, a relative of 5-year-old Cashae, was arrested. In June, Kaheem Brown, now 19, was arrested on an illegal gun charge after, police say, he shot himself in the leg. Nenner presented evidence that to show that the traffic stop was a pretextual stop.

The officer had no reason to pull the car over. The judge agreed and suppressed the evidence. As a result, the prosecution withdrew the charges. Nenner represented co-defendants in a shooting death in North Philadelphia.

Both cases were ultimately dismissed. Facts of the Philadelphia Murder Case Mr. Philadelphia Criminal Defense Lawyer David Nenner is a Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer who handles cases such as homicide, gun possession and drug charges in Philadelphia.

David S. Nenner's client was charged with multiple crimes murder, conspiracy, aggravated assault, robbery, etc. At trial, Mr. Nenner successfully presented a self-defense argument and convinced Read More.

The client was accused of shooting and killing another male on Arch Street near the block of Ithan Street in Philadelphia. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty after deliberating Treasury hires former JPMorgan executive as first racial equity counselor. Load Error. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article.

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