A Parkville man accused of setting up members of his own family for robberies to feed his drug habit was found guilty of murder yesterday in the shooting death of his elderly aunt.
Danny Paul McGee, 40, showed no emotion yesterday as jurors proclaimed him responsible for the death of Pearl Elizabeth Moffett, who was shot to death June 9 in the parking lot of the Waverly bank where she had gone to get cash for employees of a family janitorial business.
Mrs. Moffett's youngest son, Chuck, pumped a fist in victory as his wife, Barbara, embraced him and sobbed. "It's over," Barbara Moffett said later. "She can rest now." Andre Edwin Allen, 35, pleaded guilty to shooting Mrs. Moffett in March, and is to be sentenced next month to life plus 20 years in prison under a plea agreement. Police say he was the leader of a violent gang responsible for a string of robberies in Baltimore City and County last spring, including a robbery at the home of Mrs. Moffett's daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Warren Care.
In that robbery, Allen stole the gun that would later be used in Mrs. Moffett's slaying.
But prosecutors contended that the shooting would never have taken place without McGee, who identified both the Cares and his aunt as robbery targets so that he could feed his daily drug habit. He was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to rob and using a handgun to commit a crime of violence.
The charges hinged on a legal doctrine that makes a conspirator culpable in a fatal crime, even if he was nowhere near the crime scene and even if the plan did not include murder. Prosecutor Stephanie Royster told jurors that in the eyes of the law, "there's an invisible hand on the gun, and that's the defendant's."
"They were going to take this lady's money because they were going to put it in their arms or up their noses," she said.
Prosecutor Denise Fili described McGee as a lifelong user who was unemployed but always had money, who preyed upon his own family to feed his addiction but was too cowardly to commit the crimes against them himself.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from two men associated with the gang, including one, Rickey Mobley, who was originally supposed to take part in the robbery of Mrs. Moffett with Allen.
Both men testified that McGee had supplied information about his aunt's whereabouts and banking schedule, and that he was to receive a third of any money that came from the robbery.
Assistant public defender David Eaton, McGee's attorney, claimed that the real mastermind behind the robbery was Thornton "Pop" Armstead, a convicted drug dealer who brought members of the gang together frequently at his house to get high.
McGee acknowledged on the witness stand that he did give details about his family to his drug dealer, but only because he was trying to get Armstead a job with Mrs. Moffett's cleaning business. He denied that he had planned the robbery that killed his aunt.
McGee, who previously turned down a plea offer from Judge Clifton J. Gordy Jr. that would have given him between 30 and 40 years in prison, is to be sentenced May 16. Prosecutors are seeking a term of life without parole.
Pub Date: 5/03/96
