McKeesport man convicted of third-degree murder in Washington shooting death
A McKeesport man was convicted of third-degree murder Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a Tennessee teen following a fight at the Jollick Manor housing complex in Washington nearly three years ago.
Jamil Marquise Carr, 25, was found guilty of the lesser murder charge in the shooting that killed Antonio Martinez on July 15, 2022.
The Washington County jury took less than three hours to deliberate following the two-day trial before Judge Valarie Costanzo, who will sentence Carr on April 30.
Members of Martinez’s family could be seen embracing prosecutors and Washington police detectives following the verdict, while Carr’s family immediately left the courtroom after the jury was dismissed. Sheriff’s deputies handcuffed Carr, who was emotionless after the verdict, and whisked him away to the Washington County jail, where he has been held without bond since his arrest two weeks after Martinez’s murder.
The jury, which also was asked to consider first-degree murder but settled on third-degree instead, also found Carr guilty of prohibited possession of a firearm. Martinez, 18, of Clarksville, Tenn., died of gunshot wounds to his chest and elbow following an altercation with Carr.
The verdict appeared to hinge on which version of key witness Glendale Smith’s story the jury chose to believe.
Following the shooting, Smith told Washington police in an interview that he witnessed Carr fatally shoot Martinez following a fight in the Jollick Manor courtyard, and he testified to much of the same during Carr’s preliminary hearing in October 2022. But Smith changed his tune while testifying Tuesday and became a hostile witness, claiming he couldn’t remember what happened because he was “high” on drugs at the time and that he thought Carr was innocent.
During his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney John Friedmann said Smith “put on an act” with his testimony where he claimed to know nothing about what happened despite his earlier testimony being consistent with surveillance video from the housing complex showing parts of the fight and aftermath.
“What you saw (Tuesday) was an attempt by Glendale Smith to derail this trial. It was an attempt by Glendale Smith to take your job away from you,” Friedmann told the jury of eight men and four women. “And you should be incensed by that.”
Instead, Friedmann told the jury that they should view all of the evidence, which included another witness placing Carr at the scene during a house party earlier that night, along with other witnesses who made comments overheard by responding police officers that Carr was the shooter. As he alluded to in his opening statement Tuesday morning, Friedmann said Carr “brought a gun to a fistfight” and decided to shoot and kill Martinez rather than leave.
“The evidence points to one person who murdered Antonio Martinez. Why? Because his pride got hurt. He got punched,” Friedmann said.
Carr’s defense attorney, Mark Adams, tried to poke holes in the case, pointing to how surveillance video of the shooting was inconclusive, and there was a lack of evidence tying Carr to the scene, such as fingerprints or DNA on bullet casings or on Martinez’s hand, which he used to punch Carr in the fight. He also raised questions about Smith’s credibility as a witness when he promised to “tell (police) what you want” since he was facing possible drug possession charges while on parole.
“He said Mr. Carr was innocent,” Adams said about Smith’s testimony on the witness stand. “He said (police) are still pressuring him and he just wants to be left alone.”