Defendant accused of fatal, retaliatory shooting in 2010
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, CoatesvilleTimes.com
Dante L. Lawrence faces charges that include first-degree murder.
The fact that a Coatesville homicide defendant fled to Georgia should not be held against him, his defense attorney said yesterday in his opening statement to the jury.
Michael J. Skinner told the panel that his client, Dante L. Lawrence, 30, “didn’t know what to do. He had the opportunity to go south and he took it.”
U.S. marshals apprehended Lawrence near Atlanta in August, seven months after police said he fatally shot Randy Vaughn in the 200 block of Diamond Street on Jan. 5, 2010. Skinner said Lawrence had planned to turn himself in but wanted to get money to secure an attorney first. “Keep an open mind until you’ve heard both sides,” Skinner said.
The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Carlos Barraza, contends that Lawrence, whose criminal history includes a guilty plea to drug charges in 2001, retaliated against Vaughn, 31, after the victim attempted to burglarize Lawrence’s home.
Tapes of the 911 calls, which were played for the jury, suggested a chaotic scene as witnesses recalled hearing a succession of shots. “He was shot,” one caller told the operator. “Oh my God … oh my God, he died.”
Amanda Rodriguez testified that she was in a nearby parking lot between Second and Third Streets with a friend when she heard shots. “We knew it was close,” she testified, adding that she saw a tan SUV-type truck speed from the scene. She said she put her vehicle in reverse and saw a body lying in the street.
Rodriguez said she got out of her Chevy Tahoe because she feared an approaching car might hit it. She said she was able to stop the car, and she and her friend and the other car’s two occupants waited at the scene until police arrived.
The trial before Senior Judge Thomas G. Gavin is expected to continue through the week.
