Jury weighs whether teens killed Keshall Anderson

The question of whether two teens will spend up to life in prison for the death of Keshall "KeKe" Anderson in 2016 now rests with a jury. 

Abdullah Brown and Deonta Carney, both 17, are accused of first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges for what witnesses described as a drive-by shooting that killed Anderson, 19, and injured another man on the 200 block of W. 20th St. 

"Cars, casings and co-conspirators: That is what this case is about," Deputy Attorney General Beth Savitz told the jury in closing statements Thursday. 

During more than a week of trial testimony, witnesses who said they were on the block shortly after midnight described seeing shots fired from a dark sedan. Some witnesses pegged the car as a black Chevrolet Impala. 

Days after the shooting, investigators recovered a black Impala with shell casings and gunshot residue inside the backseat of the car, which video from a local gas station appears to show Brown and another teen stealing, prosecutors said. 

McDonald's receipts located inside also led investigators to video of Brown in the car ordering food from the drive-thru on days before and after the killing.

Investigators said shell casings from the Impala and the crime scene were fired by the same gun, a 9 mm found with Carney when he was arrested weeks after the shooting. He told police at the time he found it in the woods in Edgemoor.

"Ask yourself if that makes any sense," Savitz implored the jury. 

Carney's fingerprints are not found on the Impala, and he can't be identified on surveillance video at the McDonalds. 

While physical evidence put Brown with the car and Carney with the gun, testimony putting them at the scene the night of the shooting was seized upon by defense attorneys as unreliable. 

"All that evidence comes down to one witness," said John Edinger, one of Carney's attorneys. "He is the one witness that says Deonta Carney was driving that Impala." 

That witness, a 14-year-old boy, was also the only witness to identify Brown as the shooter that night. He told the jury he could see Brown shooting from the back passenger window and Carney driving.

The boy originally pinned the murder on Brown and Carney in a 2016 interview with police. At the time, he was facing at least eight separate charges for unrelated crimes.

He was offered no deal to testify, prosecutors said. Regardless, defense attorneys argued that the boy's testimony could be an effort to garner leniency for pending charges. 

His testimony was problematic. He backed off his previous statement to a detective claiming to know the make and model of the gun.

He also previously told the detective that he identified a third teen, who has not been charged, in the car with Carney and Brown. On the stand, he backed off that and defense attorneys characterized his testimony as unreliable. 

"He never wavered on the shooter and the driver," Savitz, the prosecutor, told the jury. 

The boy said he was hanging out with Jessie Jamison, who was celebrating his birthday on the block that night. Peter Veith, Brown's attorney, reminded the jury that Jamison told the jury he didn't remember seeing the boy that night. 

Deputy Attorney General Dan McBride said the boy knew enough about the shooting and scene that either he had to have been there or had assembled "the most magnificent gathering of guesses."

Veith reminded the jury of another witness who was not able to identify the shooter but described the person's arm as having "meat on the bone," another way of saying not skinny. 

Veith pointed out that Brown was 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 80 lbs when he was interviewed by police in the weeks after the shooting. 

"You've seen the picture: no meat on his bones," Veith told the jury. 

As juveniles, Brown and Carney face the prospect of 25 years to life in prison if the jury finds them guilty of first-degree murder. Prosecutors did not discuss what they believe was the defendants' motive in the shooting.

Investigators have said they don't believe Anderson was the target, but Savitz told the jury it doesn't matter who the target was. 

"You don't get a pass for being a bad shot," Savitz said. 

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.