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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; In the first day of trial for accused murderer Tevon Thomas, attorneys for both sides began to hammer at the key point: whether or not Thomas intended to kill Irvando &#8220;Yardie&#8221; Crooks.Thomas, 25, Wilkes-Barre, is facing counts of criminal homicide and conspiracy for Crooks&#8217; death in September 2016.Thomas was accused with Keanu Pinnock, 20, who pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and agreed to testify against Thomas in exchange for some charges being dropped.In her opening arguments, Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Jill Matthews made clear she believes Thomas intended to kill Crooks.&#8220;In a world where money and respect are king, this defendant had neither, and he decided Irvando &#8216;Yardie&#8217; Crooks had to die for it,&#8221; she said.With most of the major players in the case going by street names, Matthews began writing the names on a large chart so jurors could keep track.According to Matthews, Crooks&#8217; death came as a result of a drug dispute between himself and Thomas, known as &#8220;Mulah,&#8221; and Pinnock, known as &#8220;Preky.&#8221; Matthews said Crooks was the leader of a local cocaine enterprise, with Thomas and Pinnock working below him.Matthews said it was important to not sugarcoat Crooks&#8217; past, even though he was the victim.&#8220;We&#8217;re not trying to hide it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He was a drug dealer.&#8221;&#8216;Crawling for his life&#8217;Matthews suggested Pinnock, also of Wilkes-Barre, merely worked for the drug operation, while Thomas was Crooks&#8217; &#8220;right-hand man.&#8221;On Sept. 2, 2016, Matthews said Crooks went to 70 N. Sherman St. to collect money and guns from Thomas and Pinnock.&#8220;This was a disrespect,&#8221; Matthews said, noting an altercation ensued. Matthews, who typically used the street names of the individuals, described the altercation as follows:&#8220;Mulah pulled out a gun, racked the slide, and pointed it in Yardie&#8217;s face, shouting, &#8216;Say I won&#8217;t do it!&#8217;&#8221;Thomas and Crooks began struggling, falling to the ground. During the fight, two shots went off, one striking Crooks in the leg and another in the back. Matthews said evidence will suggest the shot in Crooks&#8217; leg came from Thomas&#8217; gun, while Pinnock fired the one to his back.Luzerne County Coroner William Lisman later testified that Crooks died as a combined result of the two gunshot wounds.Matthews said the magazine fell out of Thomas&#8217; gun, and Crooks began to crawl away &#8212; &#8220;a man literally crawling for his life.&#8221; Thomas, she says, picked up the magazine and reloaded the gun.&#8220;Mulah reloads the gun, puts it to Yardie&#8217;s head, and pulls the trigger &#8212; but the gun misfires,&#8221; Matthews said. &#8220;But he doesn&#8217;t get a pass for that.&#8221;Instead, she said Thomas knew exactly what he was doing.&#8220;This is a man acting with the specific intention to kill,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Mulah is responsible; he is liable; and he is guilty.&#8221;Defendant to testifyDefense attorney Joseph Price wasn&#8217;t buying that story.&#8220;They have a narrative they want you to believe beyond a reasonable doubt,&#8221; Price told jurors. &#8220;But they&#8217;re going to pick and choose details.&#8221;Some of the details Price said prosecutors would fail to explain is why &#8212; if Thomas and Pinnock intended to kill Crooks &#8212; did they choose to do it in a house full of people.Chastity Peterson, 19, lives in a home a few houses down from the murder and was the one who placed the original 911 call. She said she was sitting on her front porch and saw Crooks park in front of her home.She didn&#8217;t see Crooks again until he collapsed outside his car with two bullet wounds. She said she didn&#8217;t go inside at any point in between.Ptlm. Paul Crawford was the first officer who responded. He confirmed he did a pat-down of Crooks, lying on the ground unresponsive, and he didn&#8217;t have any weapons on him.Price confirmed Thomas would eventually testify, and he would explain conflicting stories he gave police.&#8220;This is his chance to clear up why,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Why he was scared when he made that statement. Why he said what he said.&#8221;&#8216;Didn&#8217;t feel safe&#8217;Other prosecution witnesses attempted to paint the figures around Crooks as menacing, even ruthless.Elsie Mantush, Crooks&#8217; girlfriend, said she and Crooks had a surveillance camera installed at their apartment, pointing at the front door. Mantush testified that on the night of Crooks&#8217; death, a man she didn&#8217;t recognize was captured on surveillance footage attempting to use her keys &#8212; the keys to the car Crooks drove to his death &#8212; to gain entry to the home.During Mantush&#8217;s testimony, she frequently told lawyers she did not understand their questions and she didn&#8217;t want to say something she shouldn&#8217;t.Ashavan Monroe, who goes by the street name &#8220;Avon,&#8221; testified that he worked for Crooks.Monroe described a system where, each week, a different seller would be given a cellphone and drugs and be instructed to sell them. Monroe said he was reassigned by Crooks the week of his death, taking over for Pinnock, who had made some sort of mistake the previous week.Thomas, who Monroe described as having an organizational role and not selling drugs himself, told him to give him part of his cut of the cash before he went out and sold drugs that day. Monroe then went to the Red Roof Inn in Wilkes-Barre to sell.Upon learning of Crooks&#8217; death, Monroe said he left the motel.&#8220;I didn&#8217;t feel safe,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I knew someone would want (Crooks&#8217;) money.&#8221;Mom gets emotionalOn cross-examination, Price tried to paint a different image of Thomas. Price had Monroe tell a story of a time he accidentally crashed Crooks&#8217; car. Monroe said Crooks struck him once &#8212; adding it was &#8220;no big deal&#8221; &#8212; but Price was more interested in how that conflict was resolved.&#8220;Who quashed that argument?&#8221; Price asked.&#8220;Mulah did,&#8221; Monroe said, referring to Thomas.Crooks&#8217; mother, Carleen Simpson, then took the stand. She described Crooks as a &#8220;loving, caring&#8221; son, who would call her three or four times a day, cheerfully greeting her with &#8220;How&#8217;s my girl?&#8221; when he saw her.On the day her son died, Simpson said Crooks told her he was worried.&#8220;He said Mulah owed him $300, and he was going to collect it,&#8221; Simpson said.Simpson, who was aware of Thomas from things Crooks had told her, shared in her son&#8217;s concern. She told him to be careful.She later grew emotional as a detective showed the clothes Crooks was wearing when he was shot, still splattered with blood.Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky ordered jurors to return at 9 a.m. Wednesday.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Homicide suspect Tevon Thomas is shown during a prior court appearance. His trial for the death of Irvando &#8220;Yardie&#8221; Crooks opened Tuesday. Crooks was killed on North Sherman Street in Wilkes-Barre in September 2016. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_web1_Thomas-3-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Homicide suspect Tevon Thomas is shown during a prior court appearance. His trial for the death of Irvando &#8220;Yardie&#8221; Crooks opened Tuesday. Crooks was killed on North Sherman Street in Wilkes-Barre in September 2016. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Patrick Kernanpkernan@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</shirttailMeta></div>

Lawyers argue intent to kill as WB man’s homicide trial opens