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First Posted: 11/4/2014 WILKES-BARRE &#8212; He said he&#8217;d be back.
And now convicted killer Kenneth Malik Evans III is one step closer to another appearance in Luzerne County Court.
A motion filed Monday requests a new trial in the November 2013 fatal shooting of Shantique &#8220;Teeka&#8221; Goodson, 27, claiming insufficient evidence for a first-degree murder conviction.
Jurors delivered the verdict on Aug. 21 after less than two hours of deliberation. Evans, 22, received a life sentence &#8212; the crime&#8217;s mandatory penalty &#8212; on Oct. 24, after which he informed Judge David W. Lupas of his plans to appeal.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll see you all later,&#8221; Evans later told reporters.
According to the motion, prosecutors presented no evidence that Evans ever intended to kill Goodson outside the Sherman Hills housing complex. In Pennsylvania, intent is a defining factor in first degree murder.
Evidence presented to the jury, the motion says, warranted consideration of lesser charges, however the court denied Evans&#8217; request for jury instruction pertaining to voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
The motion also claims the admission of speculative evidence related to gunshot residue compromised the fairness of Evans&#8217; trial.
Despite objections, the document says, two detectives were allowed to offer as evidence their opinions as to why a gunshot residue test produced inconclusive results. The detectives offered expert opinion, the motion says, even though they were never qualified as expert witnesses.
According to witness testimony, Goodson was sitting in her girlfriend&#8217;s Jeep Grand Cherokee in a Sherman Hills parking lot when Evans approached the vehicle and yanked at the door before reaching inside and shooting the woman twice. As the driver sped away, witnesses said, Evans continued shooting in the direction of the vehicle.
Since hearing his verdict in August, Evans has maintained his innocence.
He told the Times Leader in September he believed he was the &#8220;fall guy&#8221; for the shooting&#8217;s troubled venue.
&#8220;This trial wasn&#8217;t about the shooting that I had no part of, but about Sherman Hills and all the crazy stuff that has been going on there,&#8221; Evans said. &#8220;Those jurors, they read papers and watch TV and know what&#8217;s going on there and they needed someone to blame for it.&#8221;
The victim&#8217;s mother Stacey Goodson began taking steps toward filing a wrongful death suit against Sherman Hills in March and President Judge Thomas F. Burke approved a preliminary injunction in April that placed $900,000 in escrow as the suit worked its way through the courts.
Evans said he believes a few witnesses he expected to testify on his behalf were promised money from the suit. The civil suit is still pending in Luzerne County Court.