NORRISTOWN — Two weeks after a jury couldn't agree on a verdict at their murder trial, two men have been informed that they will have a new trial in June for their supposed involvement in the shooting death of a man from Lower Providence on the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton.
Cody Kavon Reed and Marquise Alexander Johnson will start being chosen for the jury in Montgomery County Court on June 3, as per an order from Judge William R. Carpenter this week.
“The trial date was chosen after talking with the lawyers and considering the availability of the lawyers and witnesses. There will be no postponement,” Carpenter wrote in the order. “Lawyers are told to properly notify any needed witnesses and have them ready to testify when needed.”
Reed, 24, from the 300 block of West Marshall Street, Norristown, and Johnson, 24, from the 500 block of East Johnson Street, Philadelphia, are charged with first-, second-, and third-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit murder and robbery, weapons offenses and fleeing to avoid arrest related to the reported 9 p.m. March 2, 2023, robbery and fatal shooting of Daquan Tucker, 25, a former resident of Reading who lived on Rogers Road in Lower Providence when he died.
Reed and Johnson are still in the county jail without bail awaiting the new trial.
After hearing testimony for four days at a trial last month, and deliberating for eight hours over two days, a group of seven women and five men told the judge that they were deadlocked and further deliberations wouldn't help.Carpenter declared a mistrial and prosecutors are determined to retry Reed and Johnson.The exact division among the jurors was not disclosed.
Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Alane McLaughlin and co-prosecutor Caitlin Faith O’Malley are leading the case.
Brendan Michael Campbell is the lawyer representing Reed and Dennis Caglia represents Johnson.
A conviction of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, or second-degree murder, a killing that happens during another felony like robbery, carries a mandatory life sentence in prison. A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, results in a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
During the recent trial, McLaughlin and O’Malley argued that Reed and Johnson planned to bring Tucker to the popular trail to “execute” him.
Even though there were no witnesses to the killing, no gun was found, and the person who fired the fatal shots is unknown, prosecutors argued that circumstantial evidence points to Reed and Johnson as the killers. Reed and Johnson were charged with murder under accomplice liability theories.
Prosecutors claimed that Tucker was robbed of his wallet and cellphone during the deadly encounter.
But Campbell argued that although all three men were together at some point that night, there is no DNA, fingerprint, or gun evidence linking Reed to Tucker’s death.
Caglia argued that prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to prove any agreement existed between Johnson and Reed. He also suggested that Tucker led a risky life and might have been targeted by someone else.
Reed and Johnson, who authorities said ran away from the area, stayed on the run until April 6, 2023, when the U.S. Marshals Service caught them in Atlantic City.
The investigation started around 9:03 a.m. March 3, 2023, when a person riding a bicycle along the Schuylkill River Trail on the border of Norristown and West Norriton called 911 to report seeing a body in a wooded area. This information is from the criminal complaint filed by county Detective John Wittenberger and West Norriton Detective Mark Wassmer.
Arriving officers found Tucker, “lying in the wooded area down a steep embankment, approximately 100 feet from the trail,” with apparent gunshot wounds. Detectives discovered two .40-caliber fired cartridge casings near Tucker, as indicated in court documents.
Detectives confirmed the casings were fired from the same unidentified firearm.
Detectives stated that investigators did not find any identification, cellphone, or wallet with Tucker. They used a fingerprint scanner to identify him.
A forensic pathologist determined that Tucker died from multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was ruled as homicide.
Testimony revealed that a female friend of Tucker’s called his brother early in the morning of March 3 because she was worried that Tucker hadn’t arrived at their shared residence by the planned time of 11 p.m. on March 2 and was missing. She later told detectives that she believed a man named “Cody” had sent an Uber to their residence for Tucker, and he had left in the Uber and hadn’t been seen since. This was according to previous testimony.
Witnesses reported that when they checked Tucker’s location using the “Find My iPhone” feature, it showed his location was on the Schuylkill River Trail near Norristown between 8:57 p.m. and 9 p.m. on March 2, exactly where his body was eventually found. At 10:06 p.m. on March 2, his cellphone location was in the area of the 1000 block of West Airy Street, according to authorities.
Detectives obtained video surveillance footage that showed Tucker arriving at Reed’s residence a little after 7 p.m. on March 2. Surveillance footage at 8:39 p.m. showed Reed, Tucker, and Johnson, all of whom knew each other, walking toward the Schuylkill River Trail, as stated in court papers.
“The three then walked to a secluded area of the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton Township where Tucker was shot numerous times and killed and his property removed from him,” Wittenberger and Wassmer alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Video surveillance captured Reed and Johnson walking along West Airy Street at 10:06 p.m., the same place and time that witnesses previously told detectives the “Find My iPhone” feature located Tucker’s phone. Investigators alleged Reed and Johnson were in possession of Tucker’s cellphone after he had been shot and killed.
At 10:21 p.m., a video camera recorded Reed and Johnson going back to Reed’s apartment on West Marshall Street, as stated in the arrest report.
