Witness in dirt bike murder afraid to testify

A Philadelphia municipal court judge has set a Nov. 5 arraignment date for a 16-year-old from the Juniata section accused of killing another teenager in Tacony Creek Park last summer for his $3,000 dirt bike.

Eric Smith appeared in court late this morning to face murder and related offenses for the July 28 shooting death of Luis Navarro Jr., 15.

Smith sat slumped in his chair and glared at one witness -- Rahyle Lawrence, 14 -- who told Judge David C. Shuter that he was fearful about testifying in the case.

Lawrence was silent after every question posed by prosecutor Carlos Vega about the crime. Lawrence kept his gaze on Smith during his 30 minutes on the witness stand. At one point, Lawrence closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hands.

When asked by Vega if he was nervous and afraid, Lawrence quietly replied: "Yes."

Smith's attorney, Daniel A. Rendine, loudly objected to Lawrence's statement.

Lawrence had previously given Philadelphia police a witness statement in which he said Smith admitted killing a teen on a motor bike.

"Yo, you don't know what it's like to catch a body," Lawrence alleged in his witness statement that Smith told him.

The first witness to take the stand, Terrance Washington, 16, told the court today that Eric Smith on the day of Navarro's murder asked him if he was "afraid to go to the trail," through Tacony Creek Park.

Washington said: "Yes, I was scared because my mom didn't want me to go too far from the house."

Washington said Smith rode him on the back of a bike to the park and showed him the trails used by dirt bikers.

Washington said the two then heard a motor bike.

"He told me to step back and he shot the boy one time," Washington testified.

Washington said he never told anyone about the crime -- until he was questioned by police -- because he was afraid.

Smith of the 800 block of Granite Street, was charged three months ago as an adult with murder and robbery of Navarro. Smith did not know the victim and killed him because he wanted the teen's $3,000 Kawasaki motorcycle.

The break in the case came when a citizen saw Smith and two other teens moving a vehicle covered with a tarp in Summerdale, about a mile from the park, police said. The tipster saw part of the bike and recognized it as the one being sought in the murder case.