A Pittsburgh man charged with fatally shooting someone in East Hills this spring threw his preliminary hearing into disarray on Friday by demanding a new lawyer at the last minute.
District Judge Giuseppe Rosselli reluctantly gave Brandon Davenport, who refused to leave the Allegheny County Jail and come to court, another month to find a different attorney to represent him at a preliminary hearing.
It was the third courtroom delay in connection with the May 11 slaying of Isaiah Booker, 33, of West Homestead.
“I never want to stand in the way of a defendant having the counsel of their choice,” Rosselli told Davenport’s current, court-appointed attorney, Brandon Herring.
“(Davenport) has decided he’s not interested in taking part in these proceedings,” Rosselli added. “You tell him he has 30 days to make it right.”
Pittsburgh police charged Davenport, 22, of the city’s East Liberty neighborhood, in July with homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide, reckless endangerment and a drug count.
Hearings were postponed in August and September before Friday’s continuance, according to court records.
Surveillance cameras showed Davenport riding in a silver Ford sedan with other suspects toward East Hills minutes before the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system reported 32 shots in the 2300 block of East Hills Drive around 10:50 p.m., according to a criminal complaint.
Camera footage also showed the vehicle fleeing from the scene, the complaint said.
Booker was shot in the chest.
A witness tried to use his car to rush the victim to a hospital but stopped for help next to a paramedic unit near the intersection of Homewood and Penn avenues, the complaint said.
Paramedics took Booker to UPMC Presbyterian hospital. He died there 30 minutes later.
Video footage from a nearby housing development showed Booker get into “some sort of brief, physical altercation” near a set of garbage cans on East Hills Drive, the complaint said.
Muzzle flashes erupted in a nearby walkway, according to the complaint. Booker tried to run towards a parking lot but collapsed.
Police later found a gun, a bullet with blood on it, nine spent bullet casings and single fired bullet near where the muzzle flashes were spotted, the complaint said.
The Ford Taurus, which had Pennsylvania plates, hit a license plate reader about a mile away from the shooting, the complaint said.
Police said they found the car on Homewood’s Meade Street and learned it had been stolen.
Two months after the shooting, a judge approved a court order for police to set up a “consensual wiretap” to record a witness talking with Davenport about the shooting.
Davenport had “made numerous statements about committing the murder of Isaiah Booker in East Hills” to the witness previously, the complaint said.
While the witness was wearing a wire, Davenport told them he traveled to East Hills in a silver Ford May 11 for a party that was taking place in a parking lot, according to the complaint. He also said they parked the sedan “in a separate location prior to the shooting,” then ran back to it afterward.
He also told the witness that “Tiggy” — Booker’s nickname — was not the main “opp,” which is street slang for an opponent, enemy or rival, the complaint said. “Tiggy,” however, was “with the opposition,” Davenport said, according to the complaint.
One of the people associated with Davenport got into a ” scuffle” with Booker, the complaint said. Another person started shooting at Booker, according to Davenport.
Then, police said, Davenport started firing with a “chopper,” slang for an assault rifle, according to his wiretapped conversation.
When the group fled, they drove past a Pittsburgh police cruiser rushing to the scene, the complaint said.
Davenport told the witness that the Ford’s passengers “agreed to shoot at police, had they been pulled over after the shooting,” the complaint said.
Police charged Davenport July 24 — four days after the wiretap — and he was arrested and taken to the Allegheny County Jail a week after charges were filed.
It is unclear when — or if — anyone else could be charged. A Pittsburgh police spokeswoman did not return an email Friday seeking comment.
Herring, who said in court that Davenport intends to replace him with a private attorney, declined to comment on the case.
Davenport is now set to have his preliminary hearing in Downtown Pittsburgh Nov. 6, Rosselli said Friday.