After hearing four days of testimony, an Erie County jury needed little time to convict two 24-year-olds of second-degree murder in a fatal shooting that occurred during a robbery of marijuana in Erie in January 2020.
Defendants Jakwaris Robison and Marshawn Williams were found guilty on Monday after the jury deliberated for about one hour and 15 minutes.
Judge Daniel Brabender set sentencing for April 23. Robison and Williams face life sentences with no parole in the death of 26-year-old Devin Way.
Life terms are automatic in a conviction for second-degree murder, a killing committed during a felony, such as a robbery. Robison and Williams were charged with second-degree murder directly or as accomplices.
A young Erie woman admitted in Erie County Court on Wednesday to participating in the fatal shooting of a city man as she and others executed a plan to rob the man of marijuana on a snowy Sunday afternoon in January 2020.
Melissa Seaman, 20, was well into her testimony late Wednesday morning when Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Lightner asked her if she was guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Devin Way. Yeah, she said from the witness stand.
Second-degree murder, a killing committed in the course of a felony, is the lead charge that Seaman and three co-defendants face in the Erie police investigation into the Jan. 19, 2020, homicide. Seaman testified at the trial of two of her accused accomplices.