Murder trial heads to jury
Aug. 3—A Niagara County Court jury will begin deliberating the fate of two men charged in the robbery and murder of a popular South End merchant and two other violent robberies later today.
The jury of six men and six women will weigh just over six days of testimony in the trial of Jonathan McEnnis and William Coleman. McEnnis, 36, of Keystone Avenue in Buffalo, and Coleman, 31, of Niagara Falls, are accused of robbing and gunning down Ahmad "Poppy" Alsaid, as he sat in his Bridgeway Market store at Memorial Parkway and Niagara Street at 7:24 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2018.
In addition to the Alsaid homicide and robbery, Falls police and Niagara County prosecutors have also charged McEnnis and Coleman in the armed hold-up of a 7-Eleven store on Buffalo Avenue not long after the Bridgeway Market incident. The two men, who were each on parole at the time of Alsaid's murder, after serving 10 years in prison on charges related to a violent robbery in Buffalo, are also accused of the robbery of a Falls man on Ninth Street, 11 days before the Bridgeway Market homicide and the 7-Eleven robbery.
In that case, prosecutors say, McEnnis and Coleman stole the man's wallet and then shot him in the hip.
In closing arguments to the jurors, defense attorneys for McEnnis and Coleman repeatedly claimed prosecutors had presented no evidence to tie their clients to the crimes. Defense attorney A. Joseph Catalano said jurors would have to "speculate" to find Coleman guilty.
He said no witness had identified Coleman.
"In this country we do not find people guilty by speculation," Catalano said. "We find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But the prosecution wants you to speculate. Please do not speculate."
Defense attorney Joseph Scalzo, representing McEnnis, reminded the jurors that the burden of proof in the case rested with prosecutors.
"We don't have to prove anything," Scalzo said. "Not one of the (prosecution) witnesses positively identified my client, Jonathan McEnnis or, for that matter, William Coleman. We're asking you to render the only verdict you can against my client — not guilty."
But First Assistant District Attorney Doreen Hoffman refuted the defense claims in a slick, high-tech, multi-media presentation that mixed security camera videos with animated cell phone and geo-tracking data that linked McEnnis and Coleman to all three crimes.
Security camera video from a 68th Street home allowed police to identify a vehicle owned by McEnnis and then tie that vehicle to the crime scenes. Video from the 7-Eleven store provided proof, Hoffman said, that the hooded and masked hold-up men matched descriptions of McEnnis and Coleman.
And video from the Bridgeway Market, the prosecutor said, identified Coleman as the armed robber who went behind a counter, gunned down Alsaid and then stole cash from the store's register. Hoffman also identified McEnnis as the gunman who fired a random shot over the counter at Alsaid.
"When Poppy pulled out a BB gun, William Coleman fired," Hoffman told the jury. "And then William Coleman riffled through the cash register as Poppy lay dying on the ground."
Using the cell phone, geo-tracking data and captures from police license plate readers, EZ-Pass readers and Buffalo Police surveillance cameras, Hoffman traced McEnnis' travel from his Buffalo home to Coleman's Niagara Falls apartment, to the crime scenes and back.
"They thought they had committed the perfect crime," Hoffmann said. "Masked and gloved, no one could identify them. But they underestimated the work of the Niagara Falls Police Department. You don't have to guess. You don't have to speculate."
McEnnis and Coleman are each facing two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the slaying of Alsaid. They face robbery and weapons charges in the other crimes.
