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Date: 12-08-2024
Case Style:
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Shaurn Thomas
Case Number: 2325000415-0005222
Judge: Roxanne Covington
Court: Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Plaintiff's Attorney: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania District Attorney's Office
Defendant's Attorney:
Description:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with third-degree murder and weapons offenses.
Thomas, 50, met Akeem Edwards, age 38, through an association of former inmates who had their convictions overturned. A girlfriend whose brother was also wrongly imprisoned for murder introduced Thomas to a childhood friend, who took cocaine worth $1,200 from him to sell but failed to pay him the money.
Thomas was paid $4.1 million for being wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit in the 1990s.
18 P.A. C.S.A. 2502 provides:
§ 2502. Murder.
(a) Murder of the first degree.--A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the first degree when it is committed by an intentional killing.
(b) Murder of the second degree.--A criminal homicide constitutes murder of the second degree when it is committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony.
(c) Murder of the third degree.--All other kinds of murder shall be murder of the third degree. Murder of the third degree is a felony of the first degree.
(d) Definitions.--As used in this section the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:
"Fireman." Includes any employee or member of a municipal fire department or volunteer fire company.
"Hijacking." Any unlawful or unauthorized seizure or exercise of control, by force or violence or threat of force or violence.
"Intentional killing." Killing by means of poison, or by lying in wait, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing.
"Perpetration of a felony." The act of the defendant in engaging in or being an accomplice in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing, or attempting to commit robbery, rape, or deviate sexual intercourse by force or threat of force, arson, burglary or kidnapping.
"Principal." A person who is the actor or perpetrator of the crime.
Outcome: Defendant pled guilty and will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: