Two of three people charged with killing a woman last year during a plot to rob her of her tax refund will spend decades in prison, while a third man — the accused getaway driver — saw his chance for a plea deal fizzle when he fired his attorney on the eve of trial.
That means he now faces trial and a potential life prison term if convicted.
Laya Whitley, 24, who worked with Keiauna Davis at Dollar General in Wilkinsburg, learned that Ms. Davis had gotten a $3,000 tax refund on Feb. 22, 2018. Investigators said Whitley contacted Dane Taylor to orchestrate a robbery when Ms. Davis left work that afternoon.
Ms. Davis was ambushed as she left work about 2:50 p.m. Video surveillance from the area shows her walking on Laketon Road while a Toyota Corolla drives past her and pulls over. Deputy District Attorney Bill Petulla said Kaijin Scott was driving and pretended to have some kind of car trouble; Taylor then exited the passenger seat and attacked Ms. Davis, knocking her to the ground.
The 4-foot-11, 107-pound Davis wouldn't give him her purse, the prosecutor said, and Taylor fired two shots. The second one struck Ms. Davis in her right hip, severing her iliac artery.
The two men then fled.
On Tuesday, Whitley pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy in exchange for a prison term of 20 to 50 years in prison.
Taylor, 22, also pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and related charges and will serve 30 to 60 years in prison.
Jury selection for all three defendants was scheduled to begin Monday before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Mark V. Tranquilli . However, late last week, Mr. Scott and his attorney, Patrick Thomassey, reached an agreement with the prosecution that he would testify against Whitley and Taylor. In exchange, Mr. Scott could plead guilty to third-degree murder and serve 15 to 40 years.
On Monday morning, though, Mr. Petulla told the court that he learned over the weekend that Mr. Scott had fired his attorney. At a hearing later that day, Mr. Scott, who was unrepresented at the proceeding, told the judge that Mr. Thomassey had been "ineffective."
Mr. Scott said he wanted another lawyer "to discuss” the plea agreement.
Judge Tranquilli explained that by choosing to fire Mr. Thomassey, the plea offer that Mr. Scott originally accepted was now off the table.
"Do you understand what I'm saying to you?" the judge asked. "What Mr. Thomassey had to bargain with last Thursday, nobody's going to have to bargain with tomorrow."
Judge Tranquilli told Mr. Scott that Whitley and Taylor had already agreed to plea deals.
"You're going to be the one left holding the bag, so to speak," the judge told him "They don't need you anymore. There are consequences to our actions. Unfortunately, you're learning that first-hand today."
Mr. Petulla confirmed at that point that the offer to Mr. Scott was gone, and that it would be "an absurdity," to give him the same offer.
"I never said I wasn't going to take the plea deal," Mr. Scott said. "I never chose to decline any deal."
"By firing your attorney, you, essentially, made yourself unrepresented. Now it's gone off the rails because of what happened to you and Mr. Thomassey over the weekend," the judge said.
"If you would have told me that, I wouldn't have fired him," Mr. Scott replied. "He failed to let me know that what I was about to do took the plea off the table.”
"I've done what I can do," Judge Tranquilli answered. He then appointed Mr. Scott a new attorney.
On Tuesday morning, at the time scheduled for Whitley and Taylor to plead guilty, Whitley's defense attorney, Blaine Jones, told the judge that Whitley, too, had asked him to withdraw.
"Today, and only today, you've been given an opportunity to plead this out to a lesser degree of murder — where you have a real shot at seeing daylight again," the judge warned Whitley.
Judge Tranquilli explained that if Whitley chose to get a new attorney, her case would be scheduled for trial, and the prosecution would ask for first- or second-degree murder.
If convicted, he continued, the sentence would be mandatory life without parole.
"You would die at the State Correctional Institution at Muncie. That's where you would die, and they would carry you out and bury you.
"Are you picking up what I'm laying down in terms of how the law looks at different types of homicide? If you pass this opportunity today, you're not going to get another shot at it."
"I'm not passing it up," Whitley responded.
Judge Tranquilli gave her a few minutes to think about it. When court resumed, Whitley decided to keep her lawyer and take the plea.
The judge had stern words for both defendants.
"You are a poster child, Mr. Taylor, of everything that is broken in our society and community today," he said.
Addressing Whitley, the judge said, "If you had not laid down with dogs and woken up with fleas, your co-defendant would not have known about this woman’s tax return. But for you, this woman would be alive today."
The judge suggested to Ms. Davis’ mother, Sheila Detwiler, who is raising her daughter’s girls, ages 4 and 7, that when the children are old enough, the family should tell them Ms. Davis was killed because of “greed, plain and simple.
“Some bad people love other people’s hard-earned money more than they love other people,” the judge said. “And that’s a damn shame, but that’s the world we live in.”
Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter @PaulaReedWard.
First Published: July 16, 2019, 6:05 p.m.
Updated: July 16, 2019, 10:16 p.m.
