Jury selection finally got underway Monday for a Clifton Heights man accused of killing a teenager on an Upper Darby street in 2023 for no apparent reason.
Marson Weh, 26, of the 100 block of Willowbrook Road, is charged with murder in the first and third degree and possessing an instrument of crime with intent in the stabbing death of 15-year-old Michael Garr in the 200 block of Bridge Street on April 21, 2023.
He is also charged separately with attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery and related offenses for allegedly stabbing a pregnant woman carrying a child in a Secane carjacking on Feb. 7, 2023. That case has been severed and is set for trial next month.
Common Pleas Court Judge G. Michael Green is overseeing both trials, which are being prosecuted by District Attorney Tanner Rouse with the help of Assistant District Attorney Sean McNabb and Deputy District Attorney Sophia Polites.
It is rare that a district attorney would personally prosecute a case, but Rouse said he wanted to see this one through. He handled the preliminary stages as the First Assistant District Attorney under his predecessor, Jack Stollsteimer.
Case history
Weh was arrested in May 2023 on an Ohio carjacking and assault. He has already been convicted and sentenced to 9½ years in prison in that case.
Weh was charged with the two local cases in early 2024, but was deemed incompetent to stand trial in May 2024. That finding was later reversed and he was returned from Norristown State Hospital to the county prison in October 2024.
At a preliminary hearing in February 2025, McNabb went through a compilation of surveillance videos with Upper Darby Detective Robert Marvil that showed the paths Garr and Weh took the night of the murder.
The videos traced both from Clifton Heights into Upper Darby, with the last video of Garr showing him exiting the frame about a block and a half from where he was stabbed to death, followed closely by Weh, Marvil said.
Marvil said Weh had identified himself in a still image taken from those videos, which showed him carrying a distinctive backpack with reflective stripes on the straps. That backpack is visible in videos tracking Weh nearby the crime scene and retracing his steps back into Clifton Heights along Baltimore Pike, according to Marvil.
Weh was wearing the backpack when he was arrested on May 2, 2023, as well as thermal leggings that Marvil said had a brown stain on them. That stain was tested and came back as a match for Garr’s blood, he said.
A folding knife found in the backpack also contained Garr’s DNA, Marvil said.
Trial delayed
The trial had been delayed several times as various motions played out in court and Weh dismissed his first counsel, Joseph Schulz, in late 2025.
Defense attorney Ian McCurdy was appointed in October 2025 and attempted to have Weh re-evaluated for competency twice, but both motions were denied after Green determined Weh is competent to stand trial.
Weh also moved to represent himself on his own, which was likewise denied.
Rouse previously described Weh’s attempts to have himself deemed incompetent as “nonsense” and said he was pulling all manner of delay tactics to stave off trial, including getting new counsel.
Now, nearly three and a half years after Garr’s death, the trial for his murder is expected to get underway Tuesday morning with opening statements from the attorneys.