February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
If the trial opens on that date, it will be exactly one day shy of four years since McConigley was gunned down on a West Philadelphia street.
However, the trial of the four might be delayed for two reasons, according to police and prosecutors.
One of the four, the man suspected of being the one who shot the Fannad native to death, was arrested in Jamaica earlier this year. But Marlon Mullings has been battling his extradition to the U.S. and to date there is no clear indication as to when Jamaican authorities might hand him over to either Philadelphia or federal law enforcement officers.
The battle over extradition is not surprising given that conviction in the case carries a potential death sentence.
A second possible delay could occur because one of the defense attorneys in the case is also working in a separate high-profile case involving Ira Einhorn, the so-called “Unicorn Killer,” who was recently sent back to the U.S. from France.
“At this point we are still listed for Oct. 21,” Assistant District Attorney Jude Conroy said this week.
McConigley was gunned down as he was chasing a gang of four men who had just robbed his business partner. The robbery and shooting took place on Oct. 22, 1999.
McConigley had come to the U.S. in 1987 and had opened a stucco business with his partner, Sean Clinton.
On the day of the murder, police say, Clinton was confronted by two of the four man gang and robbed at gunpoint of $560 in payroll cash at the garage premises used by the company he owned with McConigley, CMAC Construction.
McConigley arrived in his car just as the four robbers were escaping and gave chase. Moments later, McConigley was dead after the escaping gang fired shots through the windshield of his car.
It was 15 months before the first arrests were made in the case but early last year police arrested twins Marlon and Allen Pitter and another man, Cerrone Furman.
Mullings was arrested by Jamaican police in May of this year.
Prosecutors are known to prefer a single trial of all four accused, although it is possible that the trial of the other three could proceed without Mullings in court.
“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern right now,” Conroy said.