Brampton man 'wrongfully charged' of Windsor murder

The lawyer for Kahli Johnson-Phillips has asked the jury to acquit his client on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

20-year-old Jason Pantlitz-Solomon was shot and killed in downtown Windsor in 2018.

The Mississauga resident had just moved back to the city to go back to the University of Windsor. He was studying criminology.

“Jason Pantlitz-Solomon did not deserve to die the way he did on August 27th, 2018,” defence lawyer Michael Moon told the jury Thursday in laying out their version of the story.

“I’m just going to tell you a tale of murder, of betrayal, of an investigation that went awry due to a detective who decided he was going to make evidence rather than follow the evidence and an unscrupulous, incompetent lawyer who sold out his client,” Moon said.

THE KEY WITNESS:

Moon spent a good portion of his closing referencing the evidence of a key Crown witness, Keima Davis-Baynes.

She initially told police she travelled to Windsor from the GTA with the shooter - a man named ‘George.’ Davis-Baynes said she didn’t know anything about the shooting and didn’t know where ‘George’ was.

In July 2019, almost a year later, Davis-Baynes told police it was Kahli Johnson-Phillips who was the shooter.

At trial this year, Davis-Baynes recanted that statement, told the court her Windsor lawyer (Daniel Topp) promised her a deal to go into ‘witness protection’ if she gave police the name Kahli Johnson-Phillps.

The allegation is denied by Topp, who, in an agreed statement of fact, told the court he advised his client not speak with police at all.

“If you remove Ms. Davis-Baynes’ hot mess of evidence, the Crown has nothing left but circumstantial evidence,” Moon said.

THE POLICE DETECTIVE:

Moon was also very critical of investigators and specifically the Windsor Police Service detective who recorded the statement on July 10.

Davis-Baynes, the court heard, is a survivor of human sex trafficking.

Moon asked the jurors to watch the statement and notice she rarely looks the detective in the eye, frequently cries, and her body language is submissive.

In addition, Moon said police were “cruel for the sake of being cruel” when they warned her she might have her unborn baby in prison if she didn’t give them the name Kahli Johnson-Phillips.

“It is a massive and compelling motive to lie,” Moon said to the jury.

Moon said the police are “allowed to be hard-core on her,” but then noted "that can be offset if you have a lawyer who's looking out for you."

THE DEFENCE LAWYER:

Court heard that Daniel Topp had previously represented Jerome Pantlitz-Solomon in a Windsor matter and would later recuse himself as Davis-Baynes’ lawyer because of the connection.

“That’s absurd,” Moon said. “He counseled her to frame up Mr. Johnson-Phillips just as she said [at trial] ‘They’re (Windsor Police) not buying George, they want Kahli.’”

Topp denied he told Davis-Baynes to lie to police but also admitted to the court that he doesn’t have many notes from his meetings with her.

THE GANG INVOLVEMENT

The defence believes the Windsor shooting was in fact tied to a gang-related murder in Toronto.

They say Jason Pantlitz-Solomon’s twin brother Jerome talked to police, which resulted in charges and a trial against members of the Acorn Crips street gang.

"What better way to make a rat suffer than killing a part of him, and the better part of him at that?" Moon told the jury, calling Jason’s killing a “very public display of retribution."

Moon added the Toronto murder victim was a friend of Johnson-Phillips’ so he had no reason to hurt the person – or his family – who helped bring the perpetrators to justice.

THE CELLPHONE EVIDENCE:

Moon told the jury they never tried to claim Johnson-Phillips never used one of the phones found in Peel.

What they have admitted is he is one of the users, not the sole user.

“The key question here is whether [Johnson-Phillips] used the phone on the night of August 26th, going into the morning of August 27th, that's all that really matters in this case," Moon told the jury.

Moon said the crown has not proven – beyond reasonable doubt – Johnson-Phillips was using it at that time.

“He is wrongfully charged,” Moon concluded.

THE OTHER SHOOTER:

Moon reminded the jury that Davis-Baynes hadn’t seen ‘George’ since Peel Regional Police seized her car. He fled the scene and Davis-Baynes now believes he’s dead.

“If you believe in God then we can be comforted that [‘George’] has been judged by a court far higher than ours and will have received his due punishment,” Moon said to the jury, when asking them to return with a not guilty verdict.

“That does not prevent the police from doing what they should have done at the outset, rather than taking the easy way out. They can find out who ‘shordy killa” is and bring him up on charges. They can find out who the other shooter is and bring him up on charges,” Moon said. “Justice can still be served if the remaining two parties are found and prosecuted. Justice is not served if an innocent accused is convicted for a crime he did not commit.”

THE CHARGE TO THE JURY:

At the conclusion of Moon’s closing statements, Justice Pamela Hebner started her instruction to the jury.

She is summarizing the evidence in the case and explaining the legal requirements for convictions or acquittals, beyond reasonable doubt.

When that is finished, two jurors will be randomly selected to be released from deliberations.

Once deliberations begin, the jury of 12 people will be sequestered until they reach a unanimous decision.