Oct. 21, 2019 6p; Updated Oct. 25
Updated: A jury on Thursday found the defendant guilty as charged.
(WGTD)---Prosecutors have apparently secured the cooperation of at least one of the four defendants in the drug-related shoot-out last fall that claimed the life of a Salem Lakes man, 23-year-old Joe Riley.
At the start of Markeith Wilson’s trial Monday, prosecutor Jessica Krejcarek indicated that Augustine Sanchez, alleged to be the driver of the getaway vehicle, would testify "truthfully" at Wilson's trial this week.
Sanchez, Wilson and two other Racine men, Anthony Harris and Demarco Hudson, allegedly went to Riley's home the night of Nov. 15th to rob him of cash and marijuana. Riley, according to Krejcarek, had been selling pot for about a year.
Krejcarek said Harris and Wilson kicked in Riley’s door. Harris exchanged gunfire with Riley, who had armed himself a couple of weeks earlier after having been robbed.
Riley was killed. A woman who’d been visiting, Eva Lofton, was hit multiple times but recovered. Also shot was Wilson, as was Hudson, who had gone to the door but didn’t enter. Two other people who were in the Riley home at the time ducked into other rooms and weren’t hurt.
All four defendants fled in Sanchez’s vehicle. Wilson and Hudson were dropped off at a Paddock Lake gas station because Sanchez reportedly couldn’t find a nearby hospital.
Krejcarek said Wilson gave investigators three different statements, none of which was entirely accurate.
Wilson's attorney, Brian Dimmer, indicated during his opening statement Monday that he planned to try to pick apart the state's case, arguing that his client, while armed, never fired his gun after being hit himself, a point that the prosecution doesn't dispute.
Because the defendants are all facing the same charges as a ‘party to the crime', all four could be held equally liable.
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