Tag: Richard Boxley

Richard Boxley and Jose Busanet were sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Jason Bolton

According to court documents Richard Boxley and Jose Busanet planned to murder Jason Bolton over a drug deal. The victim would be fatally shot in broad daylight

Richard Boxley and Jose Busanet would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

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Richard Boxley Case

On June 11, 1997, Appellant and Tito Black(aka Jose Busanet) were in LaDonna Johnson’s home in Reading, Pennsylvania, discussing a plan to kill the victim, Jason Bolton, who had previously engaged in a shoot-out with Black over stolen drug money.   Tamika Johnson was present in the home while the two men discussed their strategy and brandished weapons;  Black flaunted a 9 mm handgun and Appellant held a .357 magnum revolver.   Black stated that Bolton had 48 hours to live.   A short time later, Tamika Johnson left the home and Wilson Melendez, who had sold drugs for Black, arrived.   Black introduced Appellant to Melendez and directed the men to go to the grocery store down the street.   En route, Melendez saw Bolton walking with another man, Tyrone Bryant.   Melendez then entered the grocery store, while Appellant ran back to the house to tell Black of Bolton’s whereabouts.

Moments later, Melendez left the store and joined Black and Appellant, who had come from the Johnson home, presumably to confront Bolton.   By this time, it was mid-afternoon and there were children playing and people walking on the street.   Melendez, Black, and Appellant caught up with Bolton and his companion, Bryant, and began to follow them.   When they reached Sixth and Chestnut Streets, Appellant and Black told Melendez to look around the corner to determine Bolton’s exact location.   Melendez told the men that Bolton was near.   Appellant then reached into his back pocket for his gun, which accidentally discharged.   Appellant immediately walked around the corner, pulled the gun out of his pocket, and began firing at Bolton.   At the same time, Black shot twice at Bolton.   Bolton and Bryant then ran away from their perpetrators into a vestibule of a nearby building, and quickly closed the door.   Appellant followed them and attempted to open the door to the building.   As Bolton and Bryant struggled to stop the door from opening, Appellant reached his gun into the doorway, and fired into the vestibule, killing Bolton.   Bryant was not shot, but was injured when the window glass in the vestibule shattered from the gunfire.

Appellant, Black, and Melendez immediately fled on foot and met back at the home of LaDonna Johnson.   After Appellant assured Black that he had shot Bolton, the men celebrated Bolton’s death.   By this time, Tamika Johnson had returned.   Appellant and Black told Tamika Johnson that they had killed Bolton.   Appellant and Black gave their weapons to Melendez, who hid them in the backyard of another house in the neighborhood.

After the murder, Bryant gave a statement to police, which implicated Appellant and Black.   Also, the police recovered the murder weapons which had been hidden by Melendez.   Appellant was thereafter charged with criminal homicide.   At trial, Appellant claimed that Black and Melendez had killed Bolton, and that he had not been involved in the murder.   The Commonwealth presented testimony from several witnesses, establishing Appellant’s involvement in the crime.   Further, medical expert testimony demonstrated that Bolton died from a gunshot wound to the chest and ballistics evidence established that bullet fragments found at the murder scene had been fired from Appellant’s .357 revolver.

Appellant was convicted of first degree murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, possessing instruments of crime, violating the Uniform Firearms Act, and conspiracy, and was sentenced to death.   On December 17, 2003, our Court affirmed the first degree murder conviction, but vacated the sentence of death and remanded for a new penalty hearing on the ground that Appellant had been deprived of his right to individual voir dire regarding the death penalty to uncover bias or prejudice and to exclude prospective jurors who had a fixed opinion and were unwilling to follow the law.  Id.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/pa-supreme-court/1038267.html