NORRISTOWN — The fates of three Pottstown men accused of being involved in the “assassination” of a rival drug dealer are now in the hands of a jury.
A Montgomery County jury began deliberations at 4 p.m. Thursday at the joint trial of Jaquan Marquis “Swizz” Lee, Derrick Goins and Kyshan Scott Brinkley, who are accused of participating in the 10:52 p.m. March 30, 2019, gunshot slaying of Keith “Nas” Robinson, 41, as Robinson sat in the driver’s seat of his vehicle in the 100 block of York Street.
Jurors began their deliberations after hearing the summations of prosecutors and defense lawyers and receiving legal instructions from presiding Judge William R. Carpenter. The deliberations were continuing into the evening Thursday.
During her closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Kelly S. Lloyd alleged the three men acted with a specific intent to kill when they planned and participated in the slaying of Robinson, a rival drug dealer who had ties to Philadelphia and who they believed was disrespecting them by selling drugs on their turf.
“This was their turf. They grew up there (Pottstown) and they demanded respect. They tracked down Keith Robinson. There was only one purpose here, this was an assassination. This was an execution,” Lloyd argued.
During the trial, Lloyd and co-prosecutor Lindsey Mills alleged Lee and Brinkley were members of the home-grown “Bud Gang Bitch,” or the BGB Gang, in Pottstown and that Goins was an associate of Lee. Prosecutors showed jurors various social media posts and rap videos, some linked to Lee and Brinkley, which included phrases such as “Loyalty First, Money Second.”
“These are more than words to the defendants. This is a way of life,” Lloyd argued. “You don’t cross Jaquan Lee, Derrick Goins or Kyshan Brinkley. You don’t disrespect them or any member of their crew because if you do, you’ll pay the price with your life.”
Lee, 27, of the 300 block of Walnut Street, Brinkley, 25, of the 300 block of Beech Street, and Goins, 28, of the 300 block of West Street, face charges including first- and third-degree murder and conspiracy.
“This is a conspiracy case. Each defendant had their role. No one was a bystander,” Lloyd argued, explaining the men are charged under accomplice liability theories. “The actions of one conspirator are the actions of all.”
Prosecutors claimed evidence showed Lee was the shooter, while Goins was the “lookout” and Brinkley helped set the plan in motion and confessed to a fellow inmate in jail that he had a grudge against Robinson and that Robinson had to be eliminated. Brinkley also allegedly claimed to the fellow inmate that he got rid of the murder weapon, a .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun, in Philadelphia, according to testimony.
Prosecutors alleged a jacket found discarded in a trash can in an area where surveillance video depicted a male running away from the shooting scene was forensically linked to Lee.
But lawyers for the three men argued prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence to link the men to the fatal shooting.
“Saying it is one thing but proving it is another,” defense lawyer Francis Genovese, who represents Brinkley, argued during his closing statement to jurors. “The commonwealth has failed miserably to carry their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
While there is no question Robinson was killed by a barrage of bullets, the evidence does not establish that any of the three men fired the shots or possessed the murder weapon, defense lawyers argued. The lawyers said video surveillance footage obtained from the area of the shooting did not positively identify the shooter.
Genovese suggested another man who was linked to a previous shooting in the borough just days earlier could be the killer.
“There is absolutely no question there is still a suspect at-large in this murder,” Genovese argued.
Defense lawyer Gregory DiPippo, who represents Goins, argued prosecutors didn’t meet their burden of proof because the facts didn’t support the charges brought in the case. DiPippo said there is no evidence that Goins was a member of BGB and he challenged the claim that Goins was the “lookout.”
“There’s no evidence, zero, tying my client to this organization. The commonwealth has been dead wrong on their theory in this case,” DiPippo argued.
A witness who was shown a photo array containing headshots of potential suspects during the investigation identified Goins as the man he observed in an alley near the shooting scene around the time of the shooting, which appeared to support prosecutors’ contention that Goins was the “lookout.”
But DiPippo pointed out the witness also told investigators that he “would need to see the full body to be certain.” Full body photos of subjects were not contained in the photo array shown to the witness, according to testimony.
“It is not a positive identification. He gave a qualified identification, not certain. He was mistaken,” DiPippo maintained.
Defense lawyer Joseph Todd Schultz, who represents Lee, argued the jury heard conflicting testimony from witnesses and that the prosecution’s evidence cannot be trusted. Shultz downplayed the motive put forth by prosecutors, characterizing it as “a whole made up motive,” and argued Robinson lived in Pottstown for 18 years and that the defendants didn’t have a grudge against Robinson.
Prosecutors relied on the testimony of a detective who leads the county’s Violent Crime Unit and who is an expert in gang structure and jargon and drug trafficking, to bolster their claim that the motive in the case was that Robinson was killed because he was a rival drug dealer. The detective analyzed various social media posts and rap videos allegedly made by BGB members and determined gang members used a Manatawny Street apartment as a base of operations and were committing criminal offenses involving illegal drug trafficking and illegally possessing firearms.
A conviction of first-degree murder, a killing committed with a specific intent to kill, carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
