Man Acquitted In Shooting Death Of Aspiring Teacher
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A jury has acquitted a 37-year-old South Philadelphia of all charges in the June 2008 murder of a Minnesota man who came to the city to become a teacher.
Marcellus Jones yelled "thank you" to the jury while the victim's family, in town for the trial, wept after the verdict was read. Defense attorney Richard Giuliani applauded the panel for sticking strictly to the evidence in a case in which the defendant is already a convicted killer.
"When a defendant testifies and brings out that he has five prior robbery convictions and denies the involvement of the killing of someone else where he's already been convicted, that was difficult. But apparently the jury focused on the evidence in this case, which I'm grateful for," said Giuliani.
With no DNA or other physical evidence, prosecutors relied heavily on witnesses' testimony.
Despite the verdict, Jones isn't going anywhere. He's serving a life sentence for murdering the man suspected of driving the getaway car the night Beau Zabel was shot to death and robbed near the Italian Market.
"He left telltale signs there, eyewitnesses, DNA. Unfortunately only one phone call went out on Ellsworth Street that night and he didn't leave the same type of trail," said Assistant DA Jaqueline Juliano Coelho.
And as the defense pointed out, some of those witnesses came forward five years after the crime and sought out deals with prosecutors.
