Killer on trial for N. Phila. slaying in '02

One of the convicted killers of 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs is on trial this week in a separate deadly shooting.

Kareem Johnson, 22, of North Philadelphia, is facing a Common Pleas jury on murder, criminal conspiracy and weapons charges in the 2002 slaying of Walter Smith, 39, of North Philadelphia.

If jurors convict him of first-degree murder in Smith's death, they will then have to decide whether to sentence Johnson to death or life in prison.

Johnson and Kennell Spady, 24, are already serving life sentences for the Feb. 11, 2004, shooting of Faheem, who was struck by a stray bullet as he walked to T.M. Peirce Elementary School in North Philadelphia. Johnson and Spady had been aiming at rival drug dealers.

In Smith's shooting, the prosecution contends that Johnson and another shooter, who has not been identified, riddled Smith with gunfire outside a bar at 29th Street and Chalmers Avenue in North Philadelphia Dec. 15, 2002.

They allegedly did so because Smith was about to testify as a witness in another fatal shooting - committed by Johnson's pal, Clinton Robinson, now 21.

In court yesterday, Johnson sat silently, showing little emotion, as a former neighborhood acquaintance, Bryant Younger, testified against him and as various police and medical witnesses took the stand.

During breaks, as he left or entered the courtroom, Johnson looked toward his supporters in the gallery, smiling and saying, "What's up, bro."

During opening statements Wednesday, prosecutor Michael Barry prepared the jury for Younger, calling him "not a nice guy."

Defense attorney Michael Coard took it further, likening Younger to a "rat." He told jurors: "This case is similar to 'The Cat in the Hat,'" but instead it's 'The Rat in the Hat.'"

Younger, 25, told jurors yesterday that he's in federal prison for distributing drugs. He got his life sentence reduced to 10 years after he told authorities in 2005 what he knew about Smith's shooting, he said.

"I was trying to save my a--," Younger admitted.

Younger testified that about a week after Smith's slaying, he overheard Johnson and Spady talk about the shooting.

Johnson, according to Younger, told Spady that "he went to the bar, that he was going to pop him at the bar," but then "came out and did his business."

Then Johnson "started reenacting" the shooting, Younger said, as he demonstrated to the court by raising his right hand as if he were firing a gun. Johnson was also making "sounds of gunshots, laughing, joking," Younger testified.

During a combative cross-examination by Coard, the defense attorney got Younger to acknowledge that Johnson did not mention the victim's name, "Walter Smith," or the bar's name, "Dooner's," during the conversation with Spady.

When pressed further on whether Johnson actually ever said he shot a man, Younger blurted out: "He said he shot the mother f-----."

Barry in his opening also contended that Johnson wore a red baseball hat "when he got up real close" to shoot Smith. The hat was recovered about 10 feet from Smith's body.

Laurie Wisniewski, a technician in the police DNA Identification Laboratory, testified that sweat in the hat tested positively for Johnson's DNA. While the stain also contained at least one other person's DNA, Johnson's was determined to be the "major contributor," she said.

Edwin Lieberman, a city medical examiner, testified that Smith was shot 12 times, including in the head.

Officer Robert Stott, of the police Firearms Identification Unit, testified that ballistics evidence found at the crime scene or in Smith's body indicated that at least two different guns were used in the shooting. *