North Philly man convicted of murdering an innocent man
Calvin Atkerson was aiming to shoot someone else, but instead killed James Hall, a neighborhood fixture.
A COMMON PLEAS jury yesterday convicted a North Philly man of all counts - including first-degree murder and attempted murder - in connection with a shooting four years ago that claimed the life of an innocent man, whom the prosecutor described as a beloved "neighborhood fixture."
As the jury foreman pronounced the first guilty verdict on a charge of first-degree murder for the senseless death of victim James Hall, 57, defendant Calvin Atkerson shook his head.
Atkerson, 23, was also convicted by the panel of seven men and five women of attempted murder in the case of Jasper Washington, then 21 - who was Atkerson's intended target, but who was not hit as Atkerson fired 11 bullets toward him.
Instead, in broad daylight on Sept. 9, 2011, on the block of York Street near Fairhill, where Hall lived, Atkerson pumped a bullet into Hall, who was just minding his own business - but who was in the line of fire.
Besides the murder and attempted-murder charges, the jury convicted Atkerson of weapons offenses, recklessly endangering another person and a drug offense.
In addition to the mandatory sentence of life in prison on the first-degree-murder conviction, Assistant District Attorney Alisa Shver asked Judge Steven Geroff to sentence Atkerson to an additional 15 to 30 years behind bars on the other crimes.
Geroff did so.
"This is a man who was totally innocent of any wrongdoing," Geroff said of Hall, calling the slaying "senseless" and "absurd."
As Shver told the judge about Atkerson's criminal history as a juvenile - he was found guilty of dealing drugs from his home and of illegally possessing a gun - a young woman sitting in the gallery to support Atkerson kept raising her hand.
When the judge began to sentence Atkerson, this woman, who was crying, left the room and was later seen sobbing and being hugged by another woman outside the Criminal Justice Center.
Shver told the judge that Atkerson, of Fairhill Street near Cumberland, had been placed in several juvenile facilities, but after he returned home, returned to his old life of crime.
When asked by the judge if he wanted to say anything, Atkerson said "no."
Hall's niece, Tamika, 32, who asked that her last name not be published, said afterward: "Justice was served. It's sad. We will never see our uncle again."