A man who police said had his 5-month-old son in the car when he drove two suspects to a house in Pittsburgh where they killed someone is on trial this week for criminal homicide.
Heirkiess Moore-Smith, 27, of West Mifflin, is also charged with robbery, criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of children.
Nathaniel Walker, 48, was shot multiple times around 2 p.m. on April 19, 2024, inside a house in the 500 block of Lowell Street in Pittsburgh’s Larimer section.
A witness at the home provided a description to police, including that the attackers were wearing black clothing, black ski masks and carried backpacks.
Almost immediately, Pittsburgh police officers using a city-owned surveillance camera on Lowell Street were able to identify a black Jeep Compass SUV in the area, the criminal complaint said.
Police said the vehicle was distinctive, with chrome trim, a dent and a rectangular sticker on the window.
The SUV was first seen turning onto Lowell at 1:51 p.m. at which time, police said, it drove slowly past the residence where Walker was killed.
Four minutes later, it was parked on Lowell a short distance away.
It was then, police said, that the two suspects were spotted on the camera stopping in front of the victim’s address for several seconds before going inside.
At 1:59 p.m., the same two people exited the house and ran across the road. At the same time, the vehicle left its parking spot and headed in the same direction as the suspects. Police were dispatched immediately.
Video obtained from a private surveillance system showed one of the suspects carrying a black-and-white checkered backpack, investigators said.
During her opening statement on Monday, Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Nichole Ehrheart told a jury that an hour later, officers spotted the vehicle parked in front of a school on Frankstown Road.
Police said it was being driven by Moore-Smith with the checkered backpack in the back seat.
Moore-Smith, who had his 5-month-old child in the back seat, was there to pick up his other child at school, Ehrheart said.
When Moore-Smith was taken in for questioning, the prosecutor continued, he said he didn’t know who the people were to whom he gave the ride.
“They’re going to claim he has no idea who these guys are, that he had no idea what they were doing in that house … and that he has nothing to do with it,” Ehrheart said.
But, she continued, that’s not the case. Instead, Moore-Smith is subject to accomplice liability.
“To be an accomplice, you don’t have to actually be the one pulling the trigger,” Ehrheart said.
Instead, to be found guilty, she continued, Moore-Smith merely has to have helped the others commit the crime.
When Moore-Smith spoke to police that day, Ehrheart said, he claimed he was under duress when he drove the suspects to and from the house.
But, she told the jury, “he’s sitting there waiting for them to return to his car.”
Defense attorney Art Ettinger told jurors in his opening that the prosecution is asking them to infer what happened.
“There is no evidence whatsoever Mr. Moore-Smith knew what the two individuals who went into that house were going to do,” Ettinger said.
He told the jury the case turns on knowledge and intent.
While the prosecution can prove Moore-Smith drove the men there, Ettinger said that’s not enough. There will be no text messages, phone calls, money or drugs showing any deal among them, he continued.
“Driving is not a crime. Mere presence is not participation,” he said. “A ride is not a plan.”
Further Ettinger said, police have never been able to charge the actual shooters.
“If the commonwealth can’t tell you who did it or what was said, they certainly can’t prove this individual guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”