Defendant in subway concourse attack reenacts beating
Kinta Stanton took the witness stand this morning, denying that he struck Starbucks manager Sean Patrick Conroy and, at his lawyer's request, physically reenacting Conroy's position as he was assaulted last year on a Philadelphia subway concourse.
Kinta Stanton took the witness stand this morning, denying that he struck Starbucks manager Sean Patrick Conroy and, at his lawyer's request, physically reenacting Conroy's position as he was assaulted last year on a Philadelphia subway concourse.
Stanton, 17 - one of three teens on trial for third-degree murder and conspiracy in the March 26, 2008 unprovoked beating that led to Conroy's death from a stress-induced asthma attack - testified that co-defendant Ameer Best, 18, punched Conroy hard enough that "he kind of went down."
Stanton, at attorney Lonny Fish's request, then got down from the witness stand and - in front of Conroy's family and a capacity audience of spectators - lay on his side against the courtroom wall, his torso and head propped by his left elbow on the floor.
Stanton said that, like him, co-defendant Nashir Fisher, 17, also did not strike Conroy.
Stanton, whose round face makes him appear much younger than his age, answered Fish's questions quietly in a flat voice and appeared unflustered even when implicating Best, his classmate at Simon Gratz High School who sits next to him in court, or during the macabre in-court reenactments of the actions of Conroy and his assailants.
But tears were running down Stanton's cheeks after 45 minutes of questioning by Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Juliano Coelho, who stressed inconsistencies between Stanton's testimony and his post-assault statements to homicide detectives.
Coelho noted that Stanton told detectives after he was arrested on March 26, 2008 that he was moving to punch Conroy when SEPTA transit police arrived and the group fled.
Stanton said he "froze up" after the attack began and in his mind he wrestled with whether to hit Conroy, help him or do nothing.
"I wasn't thinking that fast," Stanton replied. "I told you I was like in shock."
The three teenagers were among five North Philadelphia teens charged in the afternoon unprovoked assault on the concourse at 13th Street station of the Market-Frankford Line in Center City.
In addition to Best, Stanton testified that those who hit or kicked Conroy were Rasheem Bell, 17, and Arthur Alston, 18, - both previously pleaded guilty - and Bell's friend Tim Rhodes.
Rhodes was not charged in the assault. Except for Stanton's testimony, witnesses described him as the teen who incited the attack by daring his companions to hit someone - and then drew back and watched.
The trial, in its first day of defense testimony, is now on a lunch recess. When it resumes at about 2:15 p.m., Stanton is to be re-questioned by his attorney.
Because of a gag order imposed on the lawyers, it is not known if Best or Fisher will testify in their defense.
