4 get spring trial in city killing
Ta’Niyah Thomas
Malik Thomas, one of the accused in the shooting death of 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas in Washington.
Anthian Goehring, one of the accused in the shooting death of 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas in Washington.
Richard White, one of the accused in the shooting death of 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas in Washington.
Observer-Reporter
Douglas Cochran Jr., who pleaded guilty in the shooting death of 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas in Washington
Family members of Ta’Niyah Thomas rally Friday outside Washington County Courthouse before a hearing for the four men charged in her death.
As it currently stands, all four suspects in the Ta’Niyah Thomas homicide case will head to trial next spring.
On Friday, visiting Allegheny County Judge Edward Borkowski denied a habeas corpus motion arguing whether there was enough evidence against suspect Douglas Cochran Jr. to proceed with the charges against him.
Cochran, who was previously unrepresentend, appeared for the hearing but did not testify. He is currently represented by Uniontown attorney Jack Connor.
“In the absence of counsel, the statements of his co-defendants were used against him,” Connor said. “The judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to go to trial.”
Cochran, 18, and his co-defendants, Anthian Goehring, 28, Malik Thomas, 20, and Richard White, 18, all of Washington, are charged with homicide and robbery in the case. Goehring also is charged with discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, person not to possess a firearm and reckless endangerment. Cochran also was charged with reckless endangerment.
Ta’Niyah was shot in the head when a gunman fired into her family’s 460 W. Chestnut St. apartment March 31. She died a short time later.
White appeared in court Friday to testify against Cochran and give his account of the evening leading up to the shooting.
White, who is Goehring’s younger brother, said he, Thomas and Cochran were sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot at Lincoln Terrace, where he lived with his mother and Goehring, when Goehring approached the vehicle. White said he, Cochran and Thomas planned to go to the Red Roof Inn for the night, but Goehring changed their plans. He got in the car and talked with Cochran, and the two decided to get money from “Oak,” White testified. Oak was identified as Robert Lester, the boyfriend of Ta’Niyah’s mother, Shantye Brown.
White testified Goehring and Cochran, who both entered the apartment building that night, made no mention of planning to rob Lester.
White said he saw Goehring kicking at the apartment door, heard several gunshots and then saw Goehring and Cochran running from the apartment to the car. Cochran got into the back of the car, and Goehring pushed White from the driver’s seat, he said. White said he tried to ask what had happened but was told to stop asking about the incident. White also testified, when he turned to address Cochran, he saw two revolvers on the seat next to him.
The testimony was delivered in front of a packed courtroom. Family, friends and community members gathered at 8 a.m. in front of Washington County Courthouse for a justice rally for Ta’Niyah. After the rally, roughly 30 people squeezed into Judge Gary Gilman’s courtroom, the smallest of the six courtrooms in the county courthouse.
Curtis Thomas, father of Ta’Niyah, said he wanted to ensure those charged are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He said many people within the community were affected by Ta’Niyah’s death.
“If someone doesn’t speak for the kids, who will?” he said. “It’s our responsibility to say, ‘This is enough.'”
Before ending the hearing, Connor entered a motion to have his client tried separately from his co-defendants. Borkowski said he would rule on that later. He also set a tentative date for the start of the trial, March 30.
Cochran, White, Goehring and Thomas all remain in separate jails.