5 days Ago
LOWELL — After more than 10 hours of deliberations over three days, the jury in the Phan brothers’ murder trial passed a note early Friday afternoon stating they were at an impasse and requested guidance from the judge. “The note says, ‘We have reached a point where we are not sure we will reach a consensus and we could use some advice,'” Judge Kenneth Salinger told the attorneys. After conferring with the attorneys, Salinger sent a note back to the jury, encouraging them to take their time and to continue their deliberations.
In reaching that response, Salinger said that the evidence, presented over eight days, included testimony from 41 witnesses and 121 exhibits, amounting to approximately 33 to 34 hours of trial time. He emphasized that the jury had not yet reached the point of being “due and thorough” in their deliberations. The jury’s request on Friday was not unexpected.
On Thursday, their first full day of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men had sent a note late in the day expressing fatigue and the need to go home to let their discussions sink in. After Salinger’s response to their stalemate on Friday, they sent another note at 3:50 p.m.
, once again asking to go home — a request that Salinger granted. Typically, the jury deliberates until 4 p.m.
and is then dismissed. The jury is set to reconvene at Middlesex Superior Court at 9 a.m.
Monday to continue deliberating the fate of Billy, 33, Billoeum, 32, and Channa Phan, 31. The three brothers from Lowell are accused of fatally shooting 22-year-old Tyrone Phet outside his Lowell home over four years ago. Should the jury remain deadlocked, resulting in a hung jury, Salinger could declare a mistrial, which would mean the trial might have to be retried at a later date.
Deliberations began on Wednesday afternoon following the compelling closing statements delivered by Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Daniel Harren, as well as attorneys Rosemary Scapicchio for Channa Phan, James McCall for Billoeum Phan, and Steven Rappaport for Billy Phan. In his approximately 80-minute closing, Harren began with the same statement he used in his opening on Oct. 30 : “Twenty-two minutes.
Twenty-one shots. Eight that struck and killed 22-year-old Tyrone Phet.” According to Harren, one of the Phan brothers drove the other two to the area of Phet’s home at 50 Spring Ave.
in the early morning hours of Sept. 14, 2020. The brother who drove remained with the vehicle, parked on Arlene Road, while the other two “laid in wait” for 22 minutes at the nearby Spring Avenue before opening fire on Phet, a former Chelmsford High football star and father of two.
Shortly after 1 a.m., Phet, clad only in boxers and a bathrobe, was discovered by Lowell Police Officer Jonathan Proulx inside a blue Honda Civic, riddled with bullets, unconscious and not breathing.
Phet’s pet German shepherd was inside the car, unharmed. Police determined that 21 shots were fired by two guns, based on the 10 10mm casings and 11 .40-caliber casings found at the scene.
Dr. Adebola Yakubu-Owolewa, a medical examiner from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, testified on Tuesday that of the eight bullets that struck Phet, one went through his right upper arm, entered his chest, traveled through both lungs and his heart, and lodged in his ribcage. Another bullet struck Phet’s head, passed through his brain, and exited his skull.
Harren, who prosecuted the case with Middlesex Assistant District Attorneys Thomas Brandt and Yashmeen Desai, told jurors during his closing that while the evidence fails to explain why Phet is dead, the prosecution does not need to establish a motive. Instead, they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Phan brothers are responsible for the shooting, a fact he asserted the evidence clearly establishes. The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the testimony of their witness, Abdulai Maranda , who spent around five hours on the stand on Nov.
7, claiming the Phan brothers orchestrated the shooting. Maranda, who testified under immunity, said he was best friends with Channa Phan and was invited into Channa and his brothers’ street gang in 2016. Maranda testified that just after midnight on Sept.
14, 2020, Channa Phan called him to Billy Phan’s home at 98 Wannalancit St. Maranda said he drove his Infiniti sedan to meet the brothers, saw two handguns in the kitchen, and received instructions from Billy Phan to act as a lookout or getaway driver on Middlesex Street. With the plan in place, Maranda said he drove his car, following the three brothers, who he claimed were in Channa Phan’s SUV.
During the trial, Harren entered into evidence Maranda’s cellphone log and the “infotainment system” from his Infiniti — a central digital system that stores information such as navigation data. The prosecution argued this evidence supported Maranda’s account of events. During his closing, Harren went over the evidence again, highlighting Maranda’s cellphone log, which showed a 40-second call from Channa Phan shortly after midnight on Sept.
14, 2020. The infotainment system from Maranda’s Infiniti indicated he arrived at 98 Wannalancit St. around 12:22 a.
m., approximately 14 minutes after the call. The infotainment system also confirmed his subsequent drive to Middlesex Street.
Harren also presented a series of surveillance footage to the jurors, including a clip from 91 Arlene Road. At approximately 12:45 a.m.
, an SUV is seen in the footage pulling over to the side of the road in the 80 block of Arlene Road and its lights turn off. Two figures can be seen exiting the vehicle and cutting across the backyard of 85 Arlene Road toward Phet’s home on Spring Avenue. Although there is no audio in the footage, around the time of the shooting, the SUV’s lights switch back on.
Two individuals are then seen running back to the SUV from the area of Spring Avenue, jumping in the vehicle, and driving away. The prosecution argued that the SUV in the footage is Channa Phan’s 2014 Honda Pilot, which his girlfriend sold at the Lynnway Auto Auction in Billerica days after the shooting. Police later tracked down the vehicle and discovered it had a reverse light out, just like the SUV seen in the surveillance videos.
During their closing arguments, all three defense attorneys aggressively challenged Maranda’s credibility, asserting that he was lying to save himself. They claimed that Maranda did not know their clients, as he claimed to, pointing out that he was unable to name any of their family members, or even recall birthdates or if they were married. Scapicchio delved into Phet’s background with jurors, reminding them of his history as a known Adderall dealer and his involvement in illegal gambling, which had left him with a $4,000 gambling debt, as revealed during the trial.
She also noted that several items were missing from Phet’s apartment, including expensive sneakers, a necklace chain, the Adderall he was alleged to sell, and cash. Additionally, two safes were found open in the apartment, along with 50 blank credit cards. “There’s no evidence that my client knows Mr.
Phet from a hole in the wall,” Scappichio told jurors. “No connection whatsoever, and no motive he wants to kill Mr. Phet.
Plenty of other people might have wanted to kill him because he owed a lot of people money, he was dealing drugs, and he was involved in credit card fraud.” Scapicchio also questioned why no effort was made by investigators to obtain DNA evidence from cups and bottles found in Phet’s apartment, or to collect fingerprints from the opened safes. “How do you trust an investigation that’s nonexistent?” Scapicchio said.
“How do they find out what’s really going on if they’re investigating with blinders on? If they’re handing out immunity like lollipops?” McCall also emphasized the absence of physical evidence, a clear motive, and any connection between Billoeum Phan, the other two brothers, and Phet. “Nobody sees (Billoeum Phan) get into a car, nobody puts a gun into his hand that night, no identification in the video, and most importantly, no physical evidence, no DNA, no fingerprints, no gunshot residue,” McCall told jurors. “You’d think there would be some evidence, some connection.
Everything you heard is consistent with (Billoeum Phan) being not guilty.” Rappaport told jurors that Maranda was fed information by investigators about what they thought was the motivation behind the shooting. As revealed during the trial, Maranda’s vehicle was impounded and he was summoned to appear before a grand jury.
In the two days leading up to his grand jury testimony, Maranda spent several hours with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, and the Lowell and State police, but no recording of those conversations were made. “The police had a theory that (the shooting) was related to some sort of gang retaliation,” Rappaport said. “This was their theory.
When they put Maranda before the grand jury and they asked him how did you know this was the reason for the shooting, he said, ‘because you guys told me.'” Authorities had previously claimed that Phet’s murder was due to his status as an “associate,” though not an actual member, of a rival gang . On Sept.
13, 2020, the day before Phet was killed, someone believed to be a member of the rival gang fired gunshots at a home at 478 Wilder St., which authorities said was known to be connected to the gang the Phan brothers were part of. This evidence was not brought up during the trial.
All three brothers are facing first-degree murder charges, which carry a life sentence without the possibility of parole. However, the jury has the option to convict them of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, which includes a sentence of life with the possibility of parole. The lesser murder charge would mean the Phan brothers intentionally killed Phet without premeditation or extreme atrocity or cruelty — two elements of first-degree murder.
During his closing arguments on Wednesday, Harren played audio from a surveillance camera in the 400 block of School Street that captured the sound of the shooting. The audio reveals two bursts of gunfire, which Harren said proves extreme atrocity and cruelty. “Did those first groupings of shooting not kill him?” Harren said.
“Was that second grouping needed? Members of the jury, that was excessive.” The Phan brothers, none of whom had a license to carry a firearm, are also charged with unlawful possession of ammunition. Additionally, Billy Phan faces a charge of intimidating or tampering with a witness for allegedly attempting to bribe Maranda.
Maranda testified that Billy Phan offered him $100,000 to lie to the grand jury, an attempt that the prosecution claims he initially pursued before deciding to tell the truth. Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis.
