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WILKES-BARRE — As he lie on the ground bleeding to death, Irvando “Yardie” Crooks issued a death threat, according to testimony Wednesday.
“Call the police,” Crooks said as he was sprawled out on North Sherman Street, with gunshot wounds to his back and his leg. “Mulah’s dead.”
Mulah, otherwise known as Tevon Thomas, entered the second full day of trial Wednesday on counts of criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide for Crooks’ death Sept. 2, 2016.
Thomas, 25, Wilkes-Barre, was accused with co-defendant Keannu “Preky” Pinnock, 20, who pleaded guilty to third-degree murder last year and agreed to testify against Thomas in exchange for other charges being dropped.
The bulk of the testimony Wednesday morning came from Crooks’ friend Nicholas Wright, known on the streets as “Moo Shu.”
Wright, who is originally from Jamaica, spoke with a thick accent. He talked about growing up with Crooks, who he referred to by his street names of “Yardie” and “Santana.”
“I knew him from young, before the money, before all this,” Wright said. “He was like a brother.”
Testimony has suggested Crooks was the head of a local cocaine enterprise. But according to Wright, Crooks was close to getting rid of all his workers. This came after a dispute over a home at 70 N. Sherman St. — the home at which Crooks would eventually be shot.
“He wanted to use that house to start selling drugs there, but Mulah and Preky lived there,” Wright said, adding that Thomas and Pinnock didn’t want the house to look like a “trap,” or drug house.
‘Busts a shot’
After an argument the previous day, Wright said Crooks came back, his demeanor as though the previous day’s argument hadn’t happened. He said Crooks began asking Thomas for money he owed him and a gun that belonged to Crooks, adding that he was calm, yet stern.
Thomas, though, blatantly ignored Crooks’ requests, Wright said. After Crooks continuously asked for the money he was owed, Wright said Thomas became angry.
“Mulah pops the gun out of his pocket,” indicating that Thomas was pointing the weapon downward, aiming toward Crooks’ chest. “He was saying, ‘Don’t let me do it!’”
Wright said Crooks, saying he wasn’t scared, punched Thomas in the mouth.
“Mulah busts a shot and the first shot went off, like, ‘boom!’”
Wright said he ducked behind the home’s refrigerator, not being able to see what happened next. He did see Crooks run out of a back door of the home, but he couldn’t be sure of what Thomas or Pinnock did next.
When Wright left the home, he said he saw Crooks on his back on the street, “looking at the sky.”
“I started slapping him, saying, ‘Stay with me, man,’” he recalled. Crooks then made the threat against Thomas, and Wright shouted to a neighbor, Chastity Peterson, instructing her to call the police.
A few days later, Wright said, rumors began to swirl that Thomas was responsible for Crooks’ death. Thomas messaged Wright on Facebook, asking if he was the one who started spreading the story.
“I felt I had to watch myself,” Wright said.
On his way out of the courtroom, Wright seemed to make an apologetic gesture toward Thomas, before being told to continue out of the courtroom.
Conflicting testimony
As testimony continued, it became obvious Wright’s version of events wasn’t the only one. And while the prosecution’s witnesses agree on the overall course of events, they disagree on some details.
Luis Vallecillo, previously described by prosecutor Jill Matthews as the enterprise’s “errand boy,” said when Crooks arrived at the house, he coldly said nothing to anyone in the home, making a beeline for Thomas. This contrasts with Wright’s claims of Crooks offering a warm greeting to everyone.
Vallecillo said once the confrontation started, he couldn’t see much from his vantage point, but he could see Thomas pointing the gun at Crooks. Vallecillo said Thomas was shouting “Say I won’t do it.”
However, defense attorney Joseph Price pointed out he had previously told police Thomas was saying “Don’t make me do it.”
Vallecillo shrugged off the discrepancy, saying Thomas actually stated “Say I won’t do it,” but he had changed the phrasing to make it more understandable.
He eventually ran to hide upstairs after a total of three shots were fired. He then fled from the home.
According to Vallecillo, Pinnock later called him, asking for a ride to return to the scene to retrieve the weapons he had stashed in bushes nearby. During cross-examination, Vallecillo said Pinnock told him he “bagged (his) first one,” meaning killed someone for the first time.
Vallecillo also said he was ordered by Thomas to go to the apartment Crooks lived in with his girlfriend, Elsie Mantush, to break in and steal weapons. Vallecillo is facing a burglary charge for the attempted break-in, and is currently out on $100,000 unsecured bail.
‘I don’t work for you’
Thomas’ co-defendant, Pinnock, also took the stand Wednesday.
He said the dispute started after the phone provided to Pinnock by Crooks ran out of minutes. Since this phone was used to reach clients, Pinnock said he could no longer sell drugs, and instead went to the North Sherman Street home and went to sleep.
Pinnock said Crooks was angry about this, calling Thomas to tell him that “(his) boy’s not doing what he’s supposed to do.” Pinnock was referred to as Thomas’ “boy” as Thomas introduced him to the drug operation.
As punishment, Pinnock said Crooks wouldn’t let him sell for the week. Pinnock said Thomas took this as a personal insult.
Pinnock testified that he heard Thomas making threats against Crooks while on the phone with someone.
During the altercation that ended in Crooks’ death, Pinnock said Thomas drew his weapon first, pointing it at Crooks, telling him, “P——, I don’t work for you; you’ll get your money when you get it.”
Pinnock said Thomas fired the first shot which struck Crooks in the leg, but Pinnock fired two more. The first missed, but the other hit Crooks in the back. Pinnock said Thomas tried to fire the fatal shot.
“Mulah grabs the clip, puts it in the (gun) and tries to finish him,” he said. “But the gun jammed on him.”
Debate on expert
After Pinnock’s testimony, counsel for both sides entered into a sidebar with Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky, who dismissed the jury for the day afterward.
Once the jury left, Price raised an issue with prosecutor’s desire to admit Trooper James Shubzda as an expert witness Thursday to discuss the trajectory of the bullets.
Price said it would be unfair to his client, since the defense was not attempting to enter their own expert witness.
Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Tony Ross was having none of it.
“That’s on you, Joe,” Ross said.
Sklarosky put off making a ruling on Price’s issue until Thursday morning.