Until Tuesday afternoon, two men faced first-degree murder charges and potential life sentences for killing a man over a marijuana loan in York City six years ago.
By late afternoon, those men, Antonio Jones and Tyler Orr, took a deal where they admitted to the shooting death of Phillip Banks Jr. in 2018 by pleading guilty to third-degree murder.
The two were then handed sentences of 21⁄2 to 5 years of confinement as part of the plea. The first-degree murder and conspiracy counts were also dismissed.
“Mr. Jones is extremely remorseful for his actions but very satisfied with the outcome of the case,” Jones’ attorney, Michael Dimondstein said after the hearing in the York County Court of Common Pleas.
He noted that Jones apologized to Banks’ family for his role in the shooting.
Orr’s attorney, David Nenner, echoed Diamondstein when asked for comment.
“Mr. Orr and his family are very happy with the outcome of the case,” he said.
He said the outcome was the right result from the defense’s point of view, adding that taking the deal was a no-brainer.
The York County District Attorney’s Office did not provide a comment on the resolution.
The sentences for Jones, 24, and Orr, 28, were a far cry from the 20-40-year standard for third-degree murder and even further from the automatic life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction.
The two both amassed more than a year of credit for time already served at York County Prison in the case.
However, Orr also pleaded guilty in a separate firearms case, adding to his time. And Jones still faces charges in two drugs and weapons cases.
Jones was also a suspect in a separate homicide until a first-degree murder charge against him was withdrawn in that case on a judge’s order last year.
In Banks’ death, an investigative grand jury recommended the charges against Jones, Orr and a third man in March 2023.
Jones was implicated as the one who pulled the trigger and shot Banks multiple times on a sidewalk along North Franklin Street the afternoon of May 21, 2018, court documents show.
The 20-year-old Banks had been on parole from prison for three weeks before he was shot.
While he was out, investigators alleged that Orr had fronted him some marijuana to sell to help him get back on his feet.
But Banks didn’t repay the loan and was accused of stealing the pot, according to grand jury witness testimony outlined in court documents.
A witness also alleged that Orr and Jones both told them they killed Banks, the grand jury documents show.
The charges against the third man in the case were withdrawn a few months after they were filed. The D.A.’s office didn’t disclose why.
The move left Jones and Orr as the sole suspects for the past year.
Their attorneys filed motions challenging evidence as the case moved toward trial. One argument challenged a detective’s ability to identify Jones from security camera video and challenged the use of rap videos on YouTube to identify Jones.
They won some challenges and lost others, court documents show.
The plea offer then came, and Jones and Orr took it for the 21⁄2- to 5-year sentences.
Court documents show Orr was given 371 days of credit, or just over a year, for time already served at York County Prison.
His attorney, Nenner, noted Orr also pleaded guilty Tuesday to a separate illegal possession of a firearm charge, and he was sentenced to 3 to 6 years of confinement on that. The two sentences will run together.
Jones, meanwhile, racked up 463 days of credit for time served in the murder case and for two other cases he’s still involved in, according to court documents.
He faces multiple illegal gun possession, drug possession and drug dealing counts across both cases, with one of them involving a group of four other co-defendants, court documents show.
He’s due back in court for hearings in those cases in September.
Jones also beat a first-degree murder charge in October 2023.
He was originally one of three men accused of firing 100 bullets to shoot and kill Shaheim Carr while the 27-year-old was on a sidewalk along West Philadelphia Street in July 2022.
Diamondstein, Jones’ attorney in that case as well, challenged a detective’s eyeball ID of Jones from security camera video though the man in the video wore a mask and hood. Diamondstein also disputed mobile phone data and information on Jones’ whereabouts after the homicide that was used as evidence.
Judge Maria Musti Cook sided with the arguments, ruling the circumstantial evidence didn’t rise above speculation and conjecture, and that the identification of Jones could been “any number of Black males in York County.”
She struck down the murder charge, ordering it dismissed without prejudice.
The decision meant prosecutors could re-file the charge at a later time, though no new action has been taken since, according to court documents.
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