Just one month after being sentenced to a 60-year prison term for shooting and killing Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr, Kwan Kearney is due to stand trial again.
Kearney, who turned 21 on Wednesday, is suspected in the shooting death of Jamal Wilson. He and his co-defendant, Jeremy Risper, are expected to stand trial in that case today.
Wilson was shot through the chest early in the morning of Nov. 14 after being pursued by two men in the Truxton Circle neighborhood. MPD Homicide Detective Hosam Nasr, who testified in a preliminary hearing in the case, said police believe Wilson was shot on a playground in the unit block of P Street where bullet casings were found. Emergency responders found Wilson further down the block. Wilson fell on the playground after being shot, got up, ran from the scene, fell again, stood up with assistance from a friend, and ran again before collapsing, Nasr said.
Wilson was 19 years old and, Prosecutor David Sayboldt said at the preliminary hearing, part of the “First and Oak O” crew. Kearney and Risper were part of that crew, too, Sayboldt said. And the three of them were “beefing” about a man nicknamed “Phsycho.”
Kearney’s brother and Risper and testified in a murder trial against “Psycho” and “Psycho” had been convicted, Sayboldt said. Some members of “First and Oak O” were upset that the men had worked with prosecutors.
Wilson’s death is linked to the killing of Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr.—which took place just six days prior—by a gun. Prosecutors allege that Kearney shot at Wilson using a gun that Larnell Allen had used to shoot Sharps. Prosecutors believe Kearney and Risper stole the gun from Allen sometime after Sharps was killed. Allen pleaded guilty in the death of Sharps; Kearney was convicted of first-degree murder while armed.
Judge Thomas Motley is expected to hear the case beginning at 9:30 a.m.
3-20-12: A correction has been made to this story. The crew associated with the case is known as “First and O,” not “First and Oak” as initially reported.
