A Norristown teen testified during a murder trial about how a fatal robbery was planned and carried out

In the end, Justin Davis said, his mother made him do the right thing.

The 17-year-old said Thursday that she urged him to tell the truth about the fatal robbery he helped carry out in January on a Norristown street.

That advice separated Davis from his three alleged accomplices, who sat on opposite sides of a Norristown courtroom as Davis testified during their trial on second-degree murder, robbery, and related charges in the death of William Carter.

Asked by Assistant District Attorney Anne O’Connell if he wanted to testify against Jerry Butler, 29, Daquan Allen, 30, and Damon Brantley Jr., 18, Davis said, “No, I didn’t want to, but it’s taking the right step in the right direction.”

He did so as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, who allowed him to plead guilty to third-degree murder as a juvenile, sparing him a potential life sentence.

But attorneys for the three defendants attempted to discredit the teenager, saying he initially lied to police, could not be trusted by jurors, and was simply parroting the version of events outlined by prosecutors, rather than telling the truth.

Butler and Brantley are accused of ambushing Carter, 35, as he retrieved something from a parked car on Jan. 20 in a plot allegedly masterminded by Allen, who authorities say served as the group’s getaway driver.

Carter was targeted, prosecutors said, by his ex-girlfriend, Katherine Emel, who was jealous that Carter had not shared with her $3,000 he had recently won on sports betting. Emel had placed an Apple AirTag in her Buick LeSabre, which Carter was driving on the night of his death.

Davis testified that Emel called Allen hours before the robbery, telling him where Carter would be later that evening and how long he would be there.

Surveillance video played in court showed Butler and Brantley, along with Davis, confronting Carter as Brantley held him at gunpoint. During the scuffle, according to Davis, Carter tried to reach for the gun and Brantley hit him in the head with the weapon before firing at him.

Carter was struck three times, including a shot to the head that killed him instantly.

Davis said he had been a longtime friend and classmate of Brantley‘s, and met the two older men through him. On the morning before the robbery, Davis said, he went to see Butler, who was already with Allen.

While the three hung out, Allen got the call from Emel, after which Davis said Allen told him he had a lead on a “lick,” street slang for a robbery.

Allen called Brantley to tell him to bring a stolen car to Norristown to use in the robbery, according to Davis — that way, the vehicle could not be traced back to them.

Davis said the four then rode in the car, a Toyota RAV-4, to the location on Wood Street in Norristown provided by Emel. While waiting for Carter, Butler asked Brantley if he had brought a gun, and Brantley allegedly showed him a 9mm handgun that had a “switch” installed, illegally turning it into an automatic weapon.

Butler, according to Davis, refused to hold the gun during the robbery, saying it was “too much” for the job.

After the botched robbery, the group sped away, frustrated with the way it had ended, and ditched the RAV-4, Davis said. Allen, Butler, and Davis then drove to a house in Philadelphia, where they changed clothes and waited for Brantley to arrive, he said.

While they waited, the group discussed the fact that Carter had been killed, Davis said, and Allen received a call from a panicked Emel, whom he agreed to meet to give her some of the stolen money.

Later, Brantley arrived and told the group he had lost the murder weapon and the keys to the RAV-4, which had been left in an alley in Norristown. The group went back to Norristown and, unable to find the missing keys, told Brantley to torch the vehicle.

The next morning, Davis received a FaceTime call from Brantley, who admitted to destroying the car. His eyebrows and the skin on his forehead appeared burned, the teen said. Days later, he said, he met with Allen and Butler at Valley Forge Casino, and the men warned him not to tell anyone about the robbery.

Police later approached Davis for questioning about the murder. He initially denied any involvement and denied knowing Allen. He was desperate, he said Thursday, to distance himself from the older man.

But after confiding in his mother, Davis changed his mind, and gave two more statements to police, who later corroborated the information he provided them and took the three men into custody in Upstate New York.

“She didn’t want me to continue down this path,” Davis said of his mother.

The trial before Montgomery County Court Judge William Carpenter is expected to last through Monday.