Two brothers on trial for the 2017 shooting death of a Penn Hills man were found guilty Monday and face life prison sentences.
Donald King, 36, of Stowe was found guilty of pre-meditated first-degree murder, while Devante King, 29, of Wilkinsburg was found guilty of second-degree, or felony murder in the Aug. 6, 2017, death of Kevin Trowery, 54.
Sentencing, before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani, is scheduled for March 9.
Trowery was killed at his home on Conestoga Road after three men attacked him on his porch that night.
Prosecutors said that the Kings and a third co-defendant, Dustin Taylor, targeted Trowery to rob him. They stole more than $267,000 in cash from his home that night. The money was recovered by police along the route the men ran to escape.
The crime was captured on a home security system Trowery had just installed. It showed three masked men approaching the porch and Trowery attempting to defend himself with a broom.
Taylor pleaded guilty Dec. 1 to third-degree murder and testified against the Kings last week.
During his testimony, Taylor said that the three men knew they were going to Trowery’s home that night to rob him. After they arrived on Conestoga Street, Taylor said he and the Kings waited across the street and in the dark for 15 or 20 minutes until Trowery went out to his front porch. Once he came out, Taylor said, they made their way to the front of his home.
“They went first, and I was last,” Taylor said.
He said that both Donald and Devante King had guns with them, but Donald King is the one who fired.
“[Trowery] got shot first, and then I punched him,” Taylor said. “A gunshot went off, and he fell down.
“He couldn’t move. He was yelling ‘help.’”
Then, he continued, Taylor and Devante King dragged the victim into his house. While the Kings looked for the cash upstairs, Taylor said he stayed downstairs with Trowery.
Then he saw red and blue police lights and ran out the back of the house.
“We all split up,” Taylor said. “I ran in the woods until I made it to a street.”
Donald King was arrested that night. Taylor and Devante King were arrested a few days later.
Taylor told the jury that in exchange for his testimony, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office offered him a plea to third-degree murder and a sentence of 12-1/2 to 25 years in prison, plus 20 years probation.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated about four hours over two days before reaching its verdict Monday afternoon.
Defense attorneys for both Donald and Devante King said that they respect the verdict.
“This case has an enormous amount of evidence that both directly and circumstantially implicated my client,” said Lee Rothman, who defended Donald King.
Elbert Gray, along with attorney Carmen Robinson, represented Devante King.
“We have great faith and confidence in the jury system. Although we may not like the verdict, we respect it,” Gray said.
Robinson said their client had a fair trial before a panel of his peers.
“That, in essence, is the justice system,” she said.
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