2 men, 25 year-old Phillip "Papi" Wallace and 21 year-old Austin Underwood were acquitted today of the murder of 21 year-old Darrell Williams Jr.
Their trial was completed before Justice Troadio Gonzalez in which evidence emerged that on February 1, 2010, Williams was shot in the head at around 6:40 p.m.
According to the evidence, Williams was at Rick's Chinese Shop when two men rode up on bicycles and started shooting. Williams ran home. Three other persons were also shot.
The prosecution's case fell apart when the only eye witness, Jason Reynolds, took the witness stand and denied that he gave a statement to the police which pointed to the two men as the alleged shooters. Reynolds said that he could not remember giving a statement to the police and that the signature on the statement that was shown to him was not his. He was treated as a hostile witness, and when he was summoned to court and he failed to appear, a bench warrant had to be issued for his arrest.
After the prosecution closed its case, the two defense counsels, Kathleen Lewis and Oscar Selgado, submitted that their clients did not have a case to answer to. Justice Gonzalez upheld their submissions and he directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty, acquitting both men.
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