2 men convicted in murder of Erie woman in dispute over broken iPad. Life sentences await
A fatal dispute over a broken iPad is sending two Erie men to prison for the rest of their lives.
The defendants, Darryl R. Gates, 41, and Javon R. Cason, 22, have been convicted of murder in the shooting of 33-year-old Erie resident Rhonda Glover as she sat in car in the 600 block of East 13th Street in November 2021. Gates was found guilty of first-degree murder and Cason was convicted of second-degree murder.
The two were accused of killing Glover, a mother of six, as part of a robbery plot to steal back a broken iPad for their cousin, who was a codefendant and testified against them. Gates was convicted of shooting Glover. Cason was convicted of giving Gates the gun.
After hearing four days of testimony and argument, a jury of seven women and five men deliberated for 4½ hours on Tuesday and found Gates and Cason guilty of the murder counts and other charges in Erie County Common Pleas Court.
Judge David Ridge read the verdicts at 3:10 p.m. and set sentencing for May 1. Both defendants have been held without bond since their arrests. They showed no emotion as they heard the verdicts.
A life sentence without parole is mandatory for defendants convicted of first-degree murder, a premeditated homicide, and second-degree murder, an unlawful killing committed during a felony, such as a robbery. Ridge could sentence Gates and Cason to more time for their convictions on other charges. They include criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and robbery.
Codefendant was the key prosecution witness
The star witness in the case was the defendants' cousin, Aiyanna R. Atkinson, 23, who said she had agreed to plead guilty to third-degree murder in exchange for her cooperation. She testified that her ex-boyfriend had damaged and stolen her iPad, and that she asked Gates and Cason, known as Chino, to get it back — though she said she never wanted anyone shot.
Atkinson said she wanted the iPad because she would have been required to pay for it if she did not return it to Seton Hill University, in Greensburg, near Pittsburgh, where she was a student. The school gave her the iPad, she said.
Atkinson's ex-boyfriend, Tariq Sheppard, was dating Glover and was driving the SUV in which she was shot in the front passenger seat.
Atkinson testified that she had driven the SUV that chased Sheppard's SUV to the spot where Glover was killed.
She testified that Gates, a passenger in the front seat, jumped out of Atkinson's SUV and shot Glover once in the forehead at about 8 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2021. Cason earlier in the evening had given Glover the .40-caliber pistol used in the shooting, and Cason was in the back seat of Atkinson's SUV when the shooting occurred, Atkinson testified. The pistol was never found.
Gates and Cason did not testify, and Cason's lawyer, Bruce Sandmeyer, presented no witnesses. The lawyer for Gates, Gene Placidi, presented only character witnesses — family members who said Gates had a reputation for nonviolence.
Sheppard was nearly shot as he ran for cover after Atkinson was killed, according to testimony. Sheppard also testified, giving the Erie County District Attorney's Office two witnesses who said they saw the shooting.
DNA, surveillance video bolster DA's case
The prosecutors, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steven Liboski and Assistant District Attorney Tayler Moses, presented multiple pieces of other evidence that supported the testimony of Atkinson and Sheppard.
The evidence included a ski hat that Sheppard said Gates wore during the shooting. Erie police seized the hat in a search of the residence where Gates had been staying with Atkinson. DNA found on the hat matched Glover's DNA, and the hat had gunshot residue on it, Erie police Detective Sgt. Patrick Ginkel testified.
Police also collected video that showed Gates and Cason confronting Sheppard at Glover's apartment. That incident happened near East 19th and Thompson streets, in the Erie Housing Authority's Harbor Homes complex, about 15 minutes before Glover was shot.
Atkinson testified that she drove Gates and Cason to Glover's apartment, where Sheppard denied having the iPad. Sheppard and Glover then left the apartment.
Atkinson said she chased Sheppard and Glover's SUV, including going the wrong way on one-way streets, to the 600 block of East 13th Street, between Reed and Ash streets.
Sheppard stopped his SUV in front of the residence of Glover's sister. Before they could get inside, Glover was shot and Sheppard was shot at.
"Darryl Gates was trying to kill Tariq Sheppard," Liboski, the lead prosecutor, told the jury in his closing argument, on Monday. "Instead he killed Rhonda Glover."
He traced the shooting back to Atkinson.
"Aiyanna wanted her money," Liboski said. "She wanted to send a message with these two men."
Placidi and Sandmeyer, the defense lawyers, attacked Atkinson's credibility in their closing arguments.
Placidi acknowledged the underlying dispute in the murder case focused on the iPad. He questioned whether it was stolen.
"The most ridiculous story ever," Placidi told the jury.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Two men convicted in slaying of Erie woman in dispute over broken iPad
