Judge orders 2nd defendant in boss' slaying to stand trial

James Whitefield used to help out young men in his neighborhood by hiring them for odd jobs and to help him install drywall at work sites.

That kindness led to Whitefield's death four days after he celebrated his 65th birthday, according to authorities who have charged two of the handymen he had hired with killing him in April.

Yesterday, Judge Teresa Carr Deni ordered Larry Bryant, 22, to stand trial on murder, robbery and related gun and burglary charges. Alleged accomplice and shooter Anthony Garnett, 22, was previously held for trial on the same charges.

Shortly before 1:55 a.m. on April 30, Bryant and Garnett used a screwdriver to pry open a door at Whitefield's home, on West Ashdale Street near Ogontz Avenue in Logan, and crept upstairs into Whitefield's room as he slept, according to Bryant's statement to police, which was read in court by a homicide detective.

Whitefield awoke startled, lunged for the .357 Magnum that Garnett was holding, and was shot in the head and neck, according to the statement.

The pair fled without taking any money or property, but Garnett returned to retrieve a cell phone he had dropped, the statement said. After meeting back up with Bryant, the pair returned to the home to see if Whitefield was dead, the statement said.

They saw his bloodied body sprawled in the hallway. Garnett stepped over the slain man and the pair again searched for cash, according to the statement.

While the home invaders rummaged, the police showed up about 3:45 a.m. and arrested them.

Bryant reportedly told detectives that the plan had been to rob Whitefield at gunpoint because they thought he had cash in the house.

After breaking in, however, they decided to search the downstairs by themselves, but gave up when they didn't find anything and went upstairs to carry out the initial gunpoint-robbery scheme, the statement said.

They both wore hoodies and gloves while robbing the home of the man they affectionately called O.G., a slang term of respect for an elder.

"Mr. Whitefield . . . did a lot of remodeling and Sheetrock work," said Assistant District Attorney MK Feeney. "He tried to help others in his neighborhood by giving them work when he could, and unfortunately that's what made him a target in this case."

"They had absolutely no remorse whatsoever," she added.

"For these two young men to do what they did, knowing that he was the type of person that would help you if he had an odd job . . . It's just sad," Tira Moore, one of Whitefield's two daughters, said after the preliminary hearing.

"He was a caring man," said Moore, 34. "They knew he was that type of man."

Eugene Tinari, Bryant's defense attorney, said his client had no intention of slaying Whitefield.

"It's quite clear that he was not the shooter," he said, "that he had no intention to shoot Mr. Whitefield, that by all accounts it was someone else who was actually the shooter."