Second trial against man for “execution” in Wilkinsburg begins

While the rest of his family watched a Steelers game on a Thursday night in November 2019, Raymond Jackson was upstairs caring for his 11-month-old granddaughter.

Suddenly, around 10:20 p.m., two armed men entered the Wilkinsburgs' home.

One of them kicked in the upstairs bedroom door and found Jackson inside holding the little girl in his arms.

Jackson laid her on the bed, police said, and the attacker shot him four times, killing him.

On Thursday, the man, identified by police as Brandon Franklin, was arraigned on charges related to the killing of the 42-year-old grandfather, one of four generations who lived in the Woodlawn Avenue home.

“They didn't want any money. They didn't take anything,” prosecutor Ilan Zur told the jury. “The motive was clearly the execution and nothing else.”

Police arrested Franklin six months after the shooting on November 14, 2019. The other attacker was never charged.

Franklin went on trial last year, but the case ended in November without a jury verdict.

His second trial for first-degree murder began Thursday before Allegheny County Judge Elliot Howsie.

While Franklin, who had refused to change into civilian clothes, sat in the courtroom wearing a bright yellow prison uniform, Zur presented his case to the jury.

Zur admitted that the prosecution had no DNA evidence, fingerprints, cell phone evidence or GPS tracking to place Franklin at the crime scene.

He also told the jury that two of the witnesses who were in the house that night would not testify. One of them cannot be found and the other refuses to answer questions.

“It is not easy to appear in court and identify a person as a murderer,” Zur said.

However, the assistant district attorney went on to say that the jury would have everything it needed to convict, including a video taken in the house that night in which Franklin can be seen carrying a distinctive pink and black handgun.

“Nothing will be withheld from you,” said Zur.

Defense attorney Aaron Sontz said he expected the jury to find reasonable doubt.

“I actually agree with something the Commonwealth said in its opening statement,” Sontz said. “They are missing a lot of evidence in this case.”

“A lot of it.”

The jury will not hear from anyone who has personal knowledge of the crime scene, Sontz said.

No one will provide a description of what Franklin was wearing that night, he continued.

Instead, Sontz said, identification could only be made by people who said they recognized Franklin when police publicly released a still image from the crime scene – which he said was “a few seconds of surveillance video taken by a private security camera.”

The defense attorney told the jury that he expected these witnesses to lie.

“It is not their opinion that counts, but yours,” said Sontz. “Their statements will be full of contradictions among themselves and with each other.”

“The entire case against Brandon Franklin is nothing but speculation and conjecture,” Sontz said.

The trial is expected to last most of next week.