DEVEAUX PRELIMINARY HEARING

The preliminary hearing in the matter of Commonwealth vs. Earl Taylor Deveaux (15-1-04, CR-0000225-07) was held at Courtroom #6 at the Courthouse due to security concerns that, fortunately, didn't develop. Deveaux, 21, of Coatesville, faced attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and related offenses following last week's shooting of a 19-year-old woman in the East End...

The victim testified that at around 19:20 on July 5, she was talking to some friends near the Locust Court Apartments when the defendant arrived and allegedly fired one shot at her, with the bullet striking her in the lower lip, lodging in her mouth and resulting in the loss of a tooth. After being shot, the victim ran into a neighbor's house, closing the door on Deveaux, then ran up the steps to the second floor. She then jumped into the bushes and ran to another neighbor's house. She also noted that two additional shot were fired, however she was unsure where the shots came from.

She testified that Deveaux said nothing to her before he allegedly opened fire. She had known the defendant for many years prior to his moving to Coatesville.

The victim also testified that she had noticed the defendant acting unusually different and that she suspected he was under the influence of some type of controlled substance. Under cross examination, the victim noted that her boyfriend, Trent Larelle Jackson, was one of the two suspects in the murder of Christian Oliveras two weeks ago, and that Deveaux was a friend of Oliveras.

A male witness then testified, though rather reluctantly. Under direct examination from First Assistant DA Patrick Carmody, the witness repeated three times "I don't want to be here. I don't want to testify." This led to a brief recess in which the ADA spoke to the witness outside the presence of the court. After a few minutes, the witness re-took the stand and testified to what he saw prior to the shooting.

The witness alleged that moments before the shooting, Deveaux approached him and several friends and asked if the witness had anything to do with Oliveras' murder. Moments later, the defendant allegedly pulled a gun out on the witness, causing him to flee into the backyard of a neighbor's house. It was the first time that the defendant and the witness, who testified that he and Deveaux were friends at one point, had discussed the murder.

At the start of the hearing, Carmody added two counts of Possession of an Instrument of Crime to the complaint; there was also a stipulation for the purposes of the preliminary hearing that the defendant was not licensed to carry a firearm in Pennsylvania, based on a letter provided by the Sheriff's Office.

Public defender Kathleen Boyer argued that most of the charges relating to actions agains the witness should be dismissed since she had claimed that the male who testified was not in iminent danger of suffering serious bodily harm, hence the Commonwealth hadn't proven it's prima facie case against Deveaux on those charges, but didn't provide arguement on the charges relating to the shooting of the female victim.

Carmody did concede that at least one of the charges, Recklessly Endangering Another Person was weak, at best. On the other charges, however Carmody argued that the totality of the circumstances justified all charges being bound to Common Pleas Court for Deveaux's actions against both witnesses.

In the end, Judge Knapp bound most of the 22 counts filed against Deveaux for trial at Common Pleas Court. Deveaux was held on one count each of Criminal Homicide, Attempted Criminal Homicide, and Recklessly Endangering Another Person (the second count on each offense was dismissed), six counts of Aggravated Assault (two counts each under three separate sub-sections), three counts of Simple Assault (initially two each covering two different sub-sections, a fourth count was dismissed), two counts each of Terroristic Treats and Possession of an Instrument of Crime, and one count each of Carrying a Firearm Without a License and Possessing an Offensive Weapon. Deveaux remains committed to Chester County Prison in lieu of $250,000 cash bail.

A recap from a very busy, but relatively quick Criminal Day at 15-1-01 will follow either later tonight or early tomorrow, depending on this author's alertness (between work and the hectic court activity, I managed to get a whopping two hours sleep today). Two weeks worth of Common Pleas activity will follow this weekend (that was just a matter of finding time to review court records and setting aside enough time to post the report)...