Erie homicide trials:4 men accused of killing over marijuana ‘lick’
, 2022-06-02 21:03:48,
- Patric Phillips, 25, was fatally shot at his apartment near East 24th and Wayne streets in December 2019
- Four Erie men are on trial on charges they killed Phillips in attempt to rob him of marijuana
- DA says police used DNA, video surveillance to identify defendants, but that two other people linked to killing were not charged and will testify
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…
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