Prosecutor seeks death penalty in home invasion killings
A Philadelphia prosecutor said Monday he will seek the death penalty for a West Philadelphia man charged with plotting last summer's home invasion that ended with the execution-style murder of a man and woman.
Assistant District Attorney Leon Goodman convinced Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner to approve the re-arrest of Nafis Pinkney on a general charge of murder, saying DNA tests confirmed Pinkney was inside the West Philadelphia house where the two were killed.
In November, a Municipal Court judge ordered Pinkney, 21, held for trial on second-degree murder, conspiracy burglary, robbery and related charges in the Aug. 29 murders of Pinkney's best friend, Jonathan Pitts, 21, and Pitts' girlfriend, Nakeisha Finks, 20.
Pinkney was originally questioned by police as a neighborhood witness, but detectives became skeptical about his inconsistent statements on Aug. 29 and 30. Ultimately, according to court testimony, Pinkney admitted recruiting two burglars to steal drug money, and told them how to break into the house in the 5500 block of Delancey Street, where he believed Pitts hid a hoard of drug cash.
Still, Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore refused to hold Pinkney on a first-degree murder charge, saying there was no evidence Pinkney was inside the house or knew the burglars - never identified or arrested - had guns or would kill the couple.
That changed Monday when Goodman announced that DNA tests proved a smear of blood on the living room wall of the Delancey Street house was Pinkney's.
Defense attorney Daniel-Paul Alva argued that even DNA evidence was too speculative to put Pinkney inside during the murders.
Alva said the blood smear on the living room wall was not near the upstairs bedroom where Pitts and Finks were killed.
Nor did police detectives who questioned Pinkney report any wound that would have produced enough blood to create the smear, Alva said.
Alva also argued that photos of the blood stains inside the house showed the stain attributed to Pinkney was more brown in color - older - than the other blood stains.
Pinkney was friends with the victims and frequently visited the house, Alva said, and he could have injured himself before the day of the murders.
Lerner, however, said the new DNA evidence was sufficient to support Pinkney's rearrest on first-degree murder and hold him for trial, where a jury will decide.
The first police on the scene of the murders thought it was random violence - a home invasion gone awry.
According to testimony last November, police went to Delancey Street about 11 a.m. Aug. 29 after a call from Finks' three sisters worried because she failed to go to work though her car was parked outside.
Police found a dining room window frame damaged and an air conditioner pushed inside. In the dining room was a table set up with a Monopoly game that appeared to have been interrupted.
The house was ransacked, and when police worked their way upstairs they found the front bedroom door closed and a footprint stain outside.
Inside, according to court testimony, were two bodies on the bed partly covered by a quilt. Each had duct tape over the eyes and tape binding their arms. Each had a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Atop the quilt was a brown envelope with "$96" written on the outside.
Goodman said Monday that DNA had also shown that semen found inside Finks' body was from Pitts - not a rapist.
Goodman has confirmed that investigators believe Pitts and Pinkney, who has no prior criminal record, worked together selling marijuana.
According to court testimony, Pinkney told detectives that he met the burglars after the break-in and they told him there was no money and they killed Pitts and Finks.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100125_Prosecutor_seeks_death_penalty_in_home_in vasion_killings.html
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