Twin defendants cause confusion in court
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The key witness, a 10-year-old boy, stood before identical twins in identical blue plaid suits seated at the defense table and pointed to the man he said was the shooter in a fatal robbery.
But unbeknownst to the witness and others in the courtroom, the twin brothers had switched places during a recess just moments earlier. When Deputy District Attorney Bruce Beemer attempted to identify the defendant for the court record, defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said he had the wrong man.
"That's incorrect," Mr. Thomassey said. "My client is sitting behind Ms. Brestensky," referring to attorney Veronica Brestensky of the Office of Conflict Counsel.
The 10-year-old boy told jurors yesterday his aunt's boyfriend, Jehru Donaldson, parked outside his house on the North Side to take his two little brothers to a Pirates game on July 8. The teenage twins, whom he knew from the neighborhood and because his father cut their hair, approached Mr. Donaldson's car on foot. One held a gun to his head and told him to get out, he said. When Mr. Donaldson batted away the gun and began to drive off, the same twin fired a single shot. The victim died of a single gunshot to the left temple.
The witness said he didn't know the twins by name.
In two preliminary hearings last summer, the young witness identified Devon Knox as the gunman. He said the other twin, Jovon Knox, stood by his side throughout the crime.
At the opening day of their homicide trial yesterday, with their seats surreptitiously switched so each twin sat behind his brother's lawyer, the boy testified he was sure Jovon Knox was the shooter. He said it was hard to tell them apart, but said the shooter was the lighter-skinned of the two.
Allegheny County Judge Donna Jo McDaniel then asked a sheriff's deputy to read the names on the defendants' jail-issued identity bracelets. The deputy identified one as Jovon Knox. The other was not wearing a bracelet, he said.
Chattering rose from the gallery. The judge called out for order in the court.
After the defense lawyers finished cross-examining the witness, Judge McDaniel called for a recess. Once the jury had left the room, she ordered that the 18-year-old twins be returned to the jail and requested that they be re-fingerprinted, identified and transported separately by separate deputies to court each day to avoid further confusion. Testimony will resume today.
Both twins face the same charges: homicide, attempted robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and a firearms violation.
Mr. Beemer told the jury of nine women and five men that Devon Knox was the gunman but his brother Jovon was an accomplice who conspired to commit the robbery and was therefore guilty of the associated crimes.
After court the victim's father, Jay Donaldson, said he wasn't surprised the 10-year-old witness flipped the twins' roles from the account Mr. Beemer gave yesterday: "I kind of thought that they were going to do something to trick the key witness. The point is a crime was committed and both have to pay."
The twins' mother, Cynthia Carey, said she felt her sons were being railroaded because the twins, then juveniles, were interviewed by police with no adult in the room. She said even she had trouble telling the twins apart if she wasn't looking them in the face.
"Two people can't kill one person. You're trying to tell me you're going to send both my sons to prison for life because you can't tell which one did it?"
The organization Mr. Donaldson founded after his son's death will hold a non-violence rally from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 14 at West Park on the North Side.
First Published June 4, 2008 12:00 am
