Court upholds murder ruling

Washington serving life sentence for role in killing of two men over 2017 burglary

The murder-one conviction and life sentence imposed on an Ohio man, who participated in the drug-related murders of two area men, has been upheld in a decision issued this week by the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Samson Ezekiel Washington, 31, was a member of the East Main Money Gang of Columbus, Ohio, a group which came to Johnstown to sell drugs, the Superior Court reported.

The gang members -- also including Markeus Benson, 33, and Devon Lee Wyrick, 28 -- had a "stash house" in Johnstown.

In March 2017, the house was burglarized. The intruders allegedly took drugs, money and a firearm.

Upon the discovery of the burglary, Washington, Benson, Wyrick and two others met to discuss what happened.

After the meeting, gang members began contacting drug users in an effort to determine who committed the burglary.

On March 27, 2017, the gang received information that two area men, James Smith, 19, of Portage and Damian Staniszewski, 32, of Duncansville and Portage, "were suddenly in possession of a large quantity of drugs."

The two men contacted a source to purchase drugs from Washington, and the gang members agreed to meet with the area men at the Galleria Mall in Johnstown.

Smith and Staniszewski got into the back seat of a car operated by Wyrick.

Washington then entered the vehicle carrying a firearm.

The gang members accused the two local men of burglarizing the stash house.

The Superior Court reported they were taken to the stash house and while being queried in the basement, Smith and Staniszewski denied the claim.

Benson retrieved Staniszewski's truck from the mall area and found only a small amount of money and drugs.

While in the stash house, the men suffered severe beatings, and eventually they were transported in Staniszewski's truck to a wooded area off Ligonier Pike in Somerset County.

Smith attempted to flee, but, the Superior Court stated, Benson shot him in the back. The gun, however, malfunctioned when he attempted to shoot Staniszweski, so, according to narrative by the appeals court, Washington left the area to retrieve another gun.

Washington, police charged, returned and killed both men.

The truck was eventually abandoned.

While the truck was found on March 28, 2017, the remains of the victims were not found by a hunter until Sept. 29, 2017.

The FBI entered the investigation and tracked calls and texts to phones owned by Benson and Washington.

In the meantime, state police, as part of the murder investigation, issued a search warrant for Washintgton's Cambria County apartment, where they found drugs, drug paraphernalia and firearms.

On Oct. 1, 2018, Washington pleaded to the drug offenses in the Cambria County Court of Common Pleas and was sentenced to a prison term of 30 to 84 months.

Washington and Wyrick were arrested for the murders in December 2018.

Benson and others were charged at a later date.

Wyrick eventually pleaded to third-degree murder, while the trial of Washington and Benson began Oct. 17 and lasted through Oct. 21, 2022.

Washington was found guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, multiple counts of conspiracy and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

He was sentenced by Judge Scott P. Bittner to life without parole.

His attorneys were Jaclyn Mariah of New Kensington and Ashian J. Clark.

The defense attorneys, in challenging the verdicts and sentence, raised 11 issues that included the contention the verdicts were against the sufficiency and weight of the evidence.

Both claims were dismissed by the Superior Court panel hearing the appeal.

The judges, including Anne E. Lazarus, Jack A. Panella and Jill Beck, ruled the witnesses against Washington, including Wyrick, told consistent stories that were corroborated by forensic evidence gathered at the scene and the cellular "map" prepared by the FBI.

A major argument by the defense was that Washington's murder trial violated the constitutional bar against double jeopardy.

The defense argued the search of Washington's apartment that yielded evidence of drug offenses -- and resulted in a guilty plea and short prison sentence in Cambria County -- was part of the murder investigation and that the charges brought in Somerset County were a repeat of the charges in Cambria.

The defense charged Washington was therefore tried twice for the same crimes.

The Superior Court panel disputed that argument, noting that "there was scant temporal relationship between the crimes."

The appeals court opinion noted, "there was no logical connection between the crimes. ... The drug crimes in Cambria County and the murder in Somerset County had different lay witnesses, expert witnesses and forensic and other scientific evidence," the opinion stated.

While the drugs were found in Washington's apartment during a homicide investigation that "does not in itself provide a logical connection between the prosecutions," the panel concluded.

The defense also challenged the introduction of the FBI's cellphone analysis that included the tracking of six phones.

Washington contended some of the phones allegedly referred to him by his nickname, "Blamson," and there was no testimony linking him to that number.

The panel concluded that whatever error may have been committed in authenticating the phone as belonging to Washingyton was "harmless" in nature.

His other complaints stemming from his conviction involved procedural issues.

The panel upheld Washington's life sentence.

He presently is incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution Huntingdon.

Benson also is serving a life term in SCI Huntingdon.

Wyrick, convicted of third-degree murder, was sentenced to a term of 21 to 80 years and is in the State Correctional Institution Camp Hill.

He was sentenced in April to an additional term of 18 months to seven years on charges of the unlawful use of a computer for accessing the internet while a prisoner last year in the Blair County Prison.