What's a half year to a lifer?
Testimony in a 20-year-old murder case will have to wait another half year, due to conflicts in the courtroom.
Guess when you're serving life for second-degree murder it's not asking too much to make you wait a half year longer for your hearing.
Giovanni Reid and Carlton Bennett were scheduled for court today on a 20-year-old murder case that I wrote about last week. A Penn post-bac student named Robert Janke was killed around 17th and South just before 6 a.m. one morning in 1991. Two guys were put away along with the shooter. A witness said she saw them holding up Janke upright as the shooter robbed him, then put a bullet into his brain.
The case warmed up again in 2007 when the student's roommate, after a 15-year silence, decided to come forward and talk about what happened that day. He says he saw the murder/robbery, and only one of the defendants was involved. He also claims two Philly detectives dropped by his Tennessee home and scared him into changing his mind about testifying.
One of the detectives was scheduled to talk about that visit in court today. Looks like we'll have to wait until April 10 to hear what he has to say. That was the first time all parties involved had clear calendars.
What's another six months? More time for a man in the joint to work on his LinkedIn page.
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