Defense: Murder done under duress
His lawyer says Simeon Bozic took part in the killing of a Germantown woman out of fear.
If his lawyer is to be believed, Simeon Bozic was too afraid not to murder Asia Adams three years ago.
In fact, Bozic was so terrified that he joined in cutting the 21-year-old West Chester University student's throat, took turns hitting her across the face with a shovel, and a day later set her Germantown house on fire to cover up the crime.
That was the essence of defense attorney Daniel A. Rendine's closing argument yesterday.
Bozic "was scared to death," Rendine told the jury. "He was scared he could be killed by Napoleon Strode."
Bozic, 29, is accused of murdering Adams during a robbery inside the woman's Seymour Street home on Nov. 7, 2004. The prosecution contend that Bozic and Thomas "Napoleon" Strode, 28, went to Adams' home that day to rob and kill her.
The two forced Adams to her basement, where she was beaten and allegedly killed with Strode's knife. The two took over $500 in cash and her ATM card, and made numerous withdrawals totaling over $700 and went on a shopping spree.
The next day, the prosecution said, the men returned to the woman's home, cleaned up the murder scene, and started the fire.
Adams was targeted because she was known to the accused: At the time, she was dating Strode.
Bozic, of Germantown, and Strode were arrested within days and charged with murder, robbery, arson and conspiracy. The men are being tried separately because of what Rendine described as a "conflict of defenses."
Strode, also from Germantown, is scheduled to stand trial in February.
Rendine yesterday argued that Strode intimidated Bozic, a slender man with stringy, slicked-back black hair who worked as a cook, into helping with the robbery and the killing. Showing a picture of Strode in dreadlocks to the jurors, Rendine argued that Bozic was "under the thumb" of the other suspect.
Rendine explained to the jurors that "duress is a defense in this case."
"Duress," the lawyer said, "is defined as being coerced into a criminal act. It is the use of unlawful force that a person of reasonable firmness would be unable to resist."
In his closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega scoffed at Rendine's argument.
Bozic could have easily fled, Vega said. Bozic and Strode are about the same size, Vega said. "He was not a midget," he said.
In his summation, Vega rolled a red chair in which Adams was forced to sit while the two smashed her with a shovel.
"This chair is a witness to the horrors of unimaginable proportions," said Vega, who also brought the shovel to court. "That a girl who was so happy was sitting here and felt the stuff no one should ever feel."
"They were doing it together," said Vega. "They took turns [hitting her with the shovel] to get her PIN number to go on a shopping spree. Then they decided to cut her throat together, like a couple cutting a wedding cake."
Away from the jury, Bozic's family defended him.
"He wouldn't hurt a fly," said sister Janine Bozic, 31.
His girlfriend, Candice Price, 35, of Germantown, said that he was such a passive person that he had never raised his voice with her.
"I'd like it to be known that he was very gentle," she said. "I don't believe he did anything of his own volition. I think he was terrified."
Common Pleas Court Judge Peter F. Rogers is expected to charge the jury at 9:30 a.m. Monday. Jury deliberations will follow.