No first degree murder charges for Piazza slaying “mastermind”

A judge today dismissed first-degree murder charges against the accused mastermind of a double murder in June at the upscale Piazza in Northern Liberties, saying no evidence shows the man planned the grisly ambush.

Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner's ruling means Will "Pooh" Hook, 40, will not face the death penalty in the shootings of Rian Thal and Timothy Gilmore, and that charges against him will be reduced to second-degree murder. If convicted, Hook would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lerner also ruled that prosecutors may seek the death penalty, if they so choose, for the man accused of being the lead gunman in the shootings of Thal, 34, a party promotor turned drug dealer, and Gilmore, 40, a former Detroit firefighter who police said also dealt drugs.

Initially, prosecutors thought alleged triggerman Donnell Murchison, 33, might avoid the death penalty by cooperating and testifying against others in the case. But today, prosecutors said that instead, Murchison lied to them about his role.

Lerner, who said his ruling regarding Hook was one of the most difficult decisions of his career, said prosecutors had "ample evidence" to show that Hook was "the mastermind of these crimes." But noting that Hook was not present during the killings, he pointed to "a difference between reasonable inference and speculation."

From the beginning, police have described the killings - eight people have been charged in the case - as a robbery gone wrong.

Thal had eight pounds of cocaine and more than $110,000 cash in her apartment, and several of those charged in the shootings have said they knew her suppliers - Gilmore and another man who was inside Thal's apartment during the shootings - would be passing through Philadelphia that weekend to unload a shipment of drugs.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Selber listed the evidence linking Hook to the shootings. She said he and the alleged gunmen made dozens of calls to each other on the day of the murders. Hook made those calls from a van parked near a cell tower close to Thal's apartment, and drove off minutes after the shootings. Several of those arrested have said Hook planned the robbery.

But Hook was not in the hallway when the gunmen opened fire on Thal and Gilmore, Lerner said, and therefore it cannot be known whether he intended for the assailants to rob or to kill.

Authorities have said the ambush was orchestrated by Hook and carried out by others who hoped to score money or drugs. Murchison has told police Thal agreed to participate in the robbery for that reason.

On the afternoon of June 27, Thal and Gilmore left her apartment. Surveillance videos show three gunmen and a lookout as they crept into the building, hid in stairways and waited. When Thal and Gilmore returned, the men cornered them in her hallway, shot them before Thal opened her door, and fled without taking anything.

Selber argued that instead of a robbery that accidentally turned fatal, Hook planned Thal's murder from the start - either because she was a witness who needed to be eliminated or because he did not want to share his profits.

Hook sent three armed men into Thal's building, Selber said, and even though Murchison claims he knew Thal, no one hid their faces. Selber said they knew Thal would not be left alive to identify them.

On the other hand, Selber said, if Murchison's story that Thal was in on the robbery is true, she was likely killed for her share of the profits.

"She shouldn't have been shot under any circumstances, unless they wanted to cut her out," Selber said. "She's a major player, she's a drug holder, she's not going to want just $10,000. She's dead, it seems to me, on purpose."

Selber also pointed to Thal's fatal gunshot wound as an indication that her murder was calculated. Thal was shot at close range in the back of her head, which suggests a premeditated decision rather than a panicked split-second reaction, Selber said.

In the statement Murchison gave to police, he blamed a co-defendant, Edward Daniels, for shooting Thal. In fact, ballistics found that the gun seen in Murchison's hand on surveillance video was used to kill Thal and Gilmore.

"He was not very truthful on a key issue in his statement," Selber said. "He failed on every level to cooperate."

Hook's attorney, Chris Warren, who had filed a motion asking that the first-degree murder charges against Hook be dropped, spoke to him afterward from Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, where Hook has been held since his arrest in July.

"I'm gratified that we have a brave judge who is willing to apply the law," Hook said, relaying his comments through Warren. "It's my hope and prayer that a jury will see I didn't do this and I can go back to my family."