Mother, sister of accused kidnapper testify at trial

The mother and sister of accused kidnapper Kenneth Tuck told a Philadelphia jury today that he was home in West Philadelphia playing cards on the front porch at the time authorities say Shamari Taylor was kidnapped and apparently killed.

"I can tell the jury what I saw: Kenneth was home all day and all night playing cards and barbecuing," Sonya Tuck, 64, testified under questioning by defense attorney Gary Silver.

Tuck said she, her son, and her daughter Delene, with rotating partners, spent from 4 p.m. to midnight on Aug. 26, 2006, playing the card game "spades" on the front porch of her house in the 6200 block of West Jefferson Street in West Philadelphia.

Even after she went inside at midnight and spent the early hours of Aug. 27 watching television until she fell asleep, Sonya Tuck said, she knew her son was home because she heard him yelling at her 12-year-old grandson, Khalif, to come inside.

Tuck's testimony was partly supported by that of her daughter, who also said Tuck was home with them that day, though she last saw him about 10 p.m. when she was caring for her ailing 2-year-old son.

The mother's and sister's alibi testimony is crucial because authorities say Taylor, 26, son of state Rep. John Myers (D., Phila.), was kidnapped, tortured and likely killed sometime after about 11 p.m. that night.

Taylor's body has never been found.

Assistant District Attorney Gonen Haklay also undercut their testimony, eliciting a conflict between the times that mother and daughter said Tuck yelled at Khalif.

Sonia Tuck also seemed to confuse the day she said Tuck was home, alternating between Aug. 26 and 27.

And she admitted lying to police when they came to her house with an arrest warrant and did not tell them her son was in New York City.

Today, however, Sonia Tuck insisted that she was telling the truth: "This is entirely something different. This is a tragedy. You don't lie for your child, you let the cards fall where they may."

Tuck, 36, is charged with kidnapping, robbery, conspiracy and gun violations. He is the only one of about six gunmen authorities say abducted Taylor a friend who has been identified and charged.

The friend, Caren Murphy, 23, who was released unharmed after about four hours, said Taylor called her late at night and asked her to drive him somewhere.

At a West Philadelphia intersection, Murphy testified, they were stopped by two vehicles with flashing lights and gunmen wearing badges.

Murphy, who said she believed she was driving Taylor to a drug deal, said she knew the men were not police when she recognized Tuck, with whom she had a sexual relationship six years earlier.

Tuck was arrested Aug. 31, 2006, after being located in a Camden hospital with gunshot wounds. Authorities say he was shot because his alleged accomplices feared he would be identified and testify against them.

Sonia and Delene Tuck were the first two defense witnesses to testify. Silver said that he intends to finish his case tomorrow and that Tuck has not decided whether to testify.

Tuck was first tried in May 2007, which ended in a hung jury.

This trial, however, has had new evidence that Haklay has argued will prove Tuck was involved in the kidnap conspiracy from the beginning.

The evidence included testimony yesterday by a federal drug agent, who analyzed cell phone records that linked Tuck to Kevin "Muhammed" Andrews, 30, the drug dealer who was allegedly to meet Taylor that night and pay $40,000 for two kilograms of cocaine.

Andrews has not been charged, and authorities say they have not been able to locate him though he has visited Tuck five times since he was arrested two years ago.

Today, that link was strengthened when Sonia and Delene Tuck, under questioning by Hacklay, acknowledged that Andrews is a cousin close to Kenneth Tuck.