{"id":6286,"date":"2013-06-28T16:42:02","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T20:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=6286"},"modified":"2013-06-30T09:39:28","modified_gmt":"2013-06-30T13:39:28","slug":"jury-deliberating-murder-defendants-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=6286","title":{"rendered":"Jury deliberating murder defendant’s fate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panel must decide whether Damon Wylie acted maliciously or in self-defense<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Damon<\/a>

Damon E. Wylie is standing trial for the stabbing-death of Marcus L. Miles on July 27.<\/p><\/div>\n

The fatal stabbing nearly a year ago of a 41-year-old Coatesville man was never a who-done-it: Police quickly issued an arrest warrant for another city resident, Damon E. Wylie, 47.<\/p>\n

After a week of hearing evidence in the case, a Chester County jury began deliberations Friday on whether Assistant District Attorney Bonnie Cox-Shaw presented sufficient evidence to substantiate her claim that Wylie should be convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Marcus L. Miles on July 27 or whether the evidence supports Assistant Public Defender Sheryl Willson\u2019s contention that Wylie acted in self-defense.<\/p>\n

Police said when they responded on July 27 to the 700 block of Diamond Alley for a reported stabbing, they found Miles collapsed at 10:56 p.m. with multiple stab wounds in the chest. He was transported \u00a0to Paoli Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:05 a.m., according to testimony. Wylie was located later that day at Crozer Chester Medical Center, where he had gone to seek treatment for his injuries, police said.<\/p>\n

In her closing argument, Cox-Shaw acknowledged that witnesses said \u00a0Miles had been trying to provoke a fight with Wylie that day. \u201cHe didn\u2019t start it,\u201d she said of the defendant. \u201cBut he certainly finished it \u2026It didn\u2019t have to end that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willson countered that Wylie had been doing his best to make peace with Miles, who first approached Wylie angrily at the Midway bar, a \u00a0confrontation viewed by other witnesses. Willson said Wylie managed to walk away but wasn\u2019t so fortunate hours later when Miles shoved him into the outside wall of an unoccupied Diamond Alley residence. \u201cCuz, whatsup? I love you, cuz,\u201d Willson quoted Wylie as responding.<\/p>\n

She said Wylie went inside the residence to get away from Miles \u2013 who was \u201cacting like a crazy maniac\u201d \u2013 but a relentless Miles followed him, eventually grabbing a pair of scissors and coming after Wylie, who permanently injured his hand when he wrested them away, she said, adding that Wylie was still pleading with Miles to stop the attack. She said Wylie had no desire to hurt Miles \u201cuntil he has no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox-Shaw scoffed at the notion that Wylie had no options, pointing out the 240-pound defendant inflicted 14 stab wounds on the 165-pound victim. The prosecutor argued that Wylie could have taken Miles out \u201cwith one good punch.\u201d Instead, \u201che pulls out a pair of scissors, stabbing the victim multiple times …It\u2019s exactly what it looks like: It\u2019s a murder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The fact that Wylie didn\u2019t call for help, fled the scene, and sought medical assistance the next day in Delaware County reinforced his guilt, Cox-Shaw said.<\/p>\n

Willson said Wylie didn\u2019t call for help because he had no idea Miles had been fatally wounded until he awakened from hand surgery at the hospital to find detectives in his room. According to testimony, after Miles had been stabbed, the defendant exited the rear of the building and Miles walked out the front door before collapsing on the porch.<\/p>\n

If Wylie had wanted to disappear, he would likely have given a fake name at the hospital, Willson said. \u201cWhat he did in that house was justified,\u201d Willson told the jury. \u201cHe\u2019s been waiting a year for you 12 people to tell him he didn\u2019t murder his friend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cox-Shaw disagreed, reminding jurors that a forensic pathologist had testified about the force required for the scissors to penetrate the victim\u2019s skull as they did. She also noted that Wylie never told anyone at the hospital that he had been attacked until he was confronted by police. \u201cIf you\u2019ve done nothing wrong, you shouldn\u2019t have to leave the scene,\u201d Cox-Shaw said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panel must decide whether Damon Wylie acted maliciously or in self-defense By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times The fatal stabbing nearly a year ago of a 41-year-old Coatesville man was never a who-done-it: Police quickly issued an arrest warrant for another city resident, Damon E. Wylie, 47. After a week of hearing evidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[24,578,2429,2428,2427],"class_list":["post-6286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-coatesville","tag-damon-e-wylie","tag-marcus-l-miles","tag-murder","tag-stabbing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}