Published: February 25, 2008 10:49 pm            

Murder trial delayed

Lee charged in fatal Memorial Day shooting

FAIRMONT — A murder trial for one of four men charged in the fatal shooting of another man in Bellview last Memorial Day will now be held this summer, court officials said.

Donnell Lee, 23, of Martinsburg was granted a continuance of his trial on Monday until the June term of court.

The postponement is necessary because an investigator for another defendant now claims he has information from two people that places Lee at the scene of the crime, said Sherman L. Lambert Sr. of Shepherdstown. Lambert is Lee’s defense lawyer.

The new evidence came to light recently, said Lambert and Marion Prosecutor Patrick N. Wilson.

Citing Lee’s right to confront his

accusers, Lambert said he needs time to investigate the new claim.

Wilson did not object to the delay. He said the allegations about Lee’s presence at the scene are also news to the state. His office also wants to examine the new evidence, Wilson said.

Marion Chief Judge David R. Janes granted the continuance after a brief hearing.

Lee was to stand trial early next month on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the fatal shooting of Derrick D. Osborne, 22, of Columbia, S.C.

Osborne was fatally wounded three times as he ran away from his assailant on a residential street just before midnight last May 28. He collapsed and died in the backyard of a homeowner on Highland Drive.

Police have said Osborne’s death was a drug-related contract killing. They also have said Lee was an associate of Lafayette Y. “Goldy” Jenkins Jr., 24, of Fairmont. Jenkins, who is also charged with first-degree murder, is supposed to have ordered the killing, according to court documents.

Lincoln S. Taylor, 23, of Huttonsville, was the shooter, police have said. Taylor agreed to kill Osborne to erase a $2,200 debt he owed Jenkins, police have said.

Lee was arrested last July 11 and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. He was on home confinement with a relative in Martinsburg until Dec. 21 when city police arrested him and charged him with first-degree murder.

Since then, Steven H. Podolsky, the man police claim was the getaway driver for Taylor on the night of the shooting, has entered a plea agreement with the state.

In return for testifying about his three co-defendants, the state will dismiss a first-degree murder charge against Podolsky, according to the plea agreement unveiled last month.

Podolsky, 24, of Long Branch, N.J., will plead guilty to the lesser offenses of conspiracy to commit murder and being an accessory after the fact.

Podolsky will plead guilty to the two charges after the trials of his three co-defendants.

E-mail Bill Byrd at bbyrd@timeswv.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.