Defense In Craigslist Murder Trial Suggest An Investigator Planted Evidence
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Jurors got in about 2 hours of deliberations Monday afternoon, after closing arguments in the Craigslist murder trial. The defendant is accused of luring the victim to check out an ATV he saw advertised, and then allegedly killing him during an armed robbery. They will resume deliberations in the morning.
Prosecutor Guy D'Andrea told jurors that the defendant Thomas Coffee terrorized the 3 armed robbery victims that testified, id'ed him, and executed Daniel Cook when the victim tried to run away.
He says the weapon from one of the victims was used in the Cook murder and they also found a matching .40 caliber round in Coffee's home and another victim's cell phone. Defense lawyer Evan Hughes challenged the witness identifications of Coffee, adding they only stepped forward after intense media coverage.
The defense suggests a fired former homicide detective, the lead investigator in this case, who now faces unrelated criminal misconduct charges, planted evidence in the defendant's home.
When he was on the stand, he denied the crimes and told jurors a man he knew as 'Stead', for whom he was marketing the ATV on Craigslist was the killer.
