A jury took simply 45 minutes to convict a lady and her hitman of first-degree homicide within the taking pictures loss of life of a Philadelphia-area instructor final yr as she sat in a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru together with her 11-year-old son.
Julie Jean, 35, and Zakkee Alhakim, 34, had been sentenced to life in jail with out parole on March 21 for the premeditated killing of Rachel King after a love triangle involving her fiancé turned bitter, prosecutors mentioned.
Following the verdicts, sheriff’s deputies surrounded the defendants and led them away in handcuffs.
King was murdered in chilly blood on April 11, 2023, when a hooded gunman approached the driving force’s facet of her Ford Edge SUV and opened fireplace a number of occasions by means of her window at 7:39 a.m.
The boy was not wounded, nonetheless, his mother — a well-liked instructor at Grover Cleveland Mastery Constitution College — was useless at age 35.
On the time of the killing, King was engaged to be married to William Hayes, who had been dishonest on her with Jean for 10 months behind her again.
Earlier than the romance reached a full yr, Hayes out of the blue broke it off, telling his jilted lover that he needed to completely decide to King, the lady he nonetheless meant to marry.
The breakup devastated Jean, who felt determined to maintain Hayes together with her, prosecutors mentioned.
And as her new actuality set in, prosecutors mentioned she grew to become vindictive, resulting in the homicide plot, District Lawyer Kevin Steele mentioned in his closing argument.
Alhakim quickly joined the plan because the triggerman.
Prosecutors mentioned Jean knew Alhakim as a relative of the daddy of her youngsters, and entrusted him to hold out King’s homicide so she might probably rekindle her romance with Hayes.
“Vengeance could be a horrible factor,” Steele informed the jury, in line with the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Vengeance on this case was lethal. Vengeance on this case took a life, the life of somebody who did nothing improper.”
King’s household was seated within the courtroom and wept because the verdicts had been introduced.
A couple of kin learn impression statements earlier than the choose despatched the killers away for all times.
“It’s a horrible factor to use a everlasting answer to a brief downside, and that’s what befell,” mentioned Allen King, the sufferer’s father. “Any disagreement you may have with one other individual, you’ll be able to stroll away from. I simply want we might’ve talked first.”
Members of the family recalled King’s vibrant spirit and gregarious persona, saying she was a devoted to her profession.
They expressed gratitude that Jean and Alhakim had been delivered to justice for the crime.
The proof offered within the case revealed how a lot planning and forethought Jean and Alkahim put into the homicide plot.
Textual content messages retrieved from Jean’s cellphone revealed that she traveled to Kensington to fulfill Alhakim and shared photos of Rachel King with him.
Investigators additionally discovered a Google Maps screenshot on Alhakim’s cellphone, exhibiting King’s deal with and hand-drawn directions on learn how to entry the lady’s house advanced.
Jean gave Alhakim $500 the day earlier than he bought an untraceable “ghost gun” for the homicide and he texted Jean an image of the gun a couple of hours later, prosecutors mentioned.
As a part of the plot, Jean additionally purchased a used Mercury Sable, which prosecutors mentioned Alhakim drove to Rachel King’s house days earlier than the homicide to scope out a super place to gun down an harmless Black lady.
The identical automobile was seen following behind King on the day she was ambushed and murdered whereas ordering espresso and donuts together with her son, authorities mentioned.
When Jean grew to become a suspect, she tried to hide her connection to the crime by deleting textual content messages and name logs from her cellphone, and by erasing information articles in regards to the killing that she had regarded up and saved on her browser, prosecutors mentioned.
Throughout protection arguments, Jean’s legal professional, Shaka Johnson, accused prosecutors of concocting a “faux narrative,” and maintained the proof didn’t help the fees towards his shopper.
“The Commonwealth began off portray an image for you … of a lady scorned,” Johnson informed the jury. “She is so damage. She is so utterly devastated as a result of Will Hayes gained’t cope with her anymore that she desires all people related to him useless. That is the idea they need you to consider.”
Johnson argued that Hayes’ testimony through the trial, the place he expressed love for King and described her as his “rock,” was insincere and designed to painting himself in a optimistic mild.
In actuality, Johnson mentioned Hayes was duplicitous to each ladies as neither was conscious of one another.
One way or the other although, Jean discovered about his infidelity and contacted King to see if she might unravel Hayes’ lies, Johnson informed the jury.
The protection instructed that Jean’s resolution to name King was a pure response to being “two-timed,” indicating that Jean was additionally unaware of Hayes’ double life.
This occurred as Jean moved to Lynnewood Gardens, the house advanced in Elkins Park the place Hayes resided.
Johnson instructed that the prosecution’s proof towards Jean was primarily circumstantial and didn’t instantly implicate her, however the jury rejected this.
In the meantime, Alhakim’s legal professional, Benjamin Cooper, identified that surveillance video of King’s homicide didn’t positively establish the gunman, nor did different movies of the Mercury Sable leaving the realm after King was shot.
“Suspicion doesn’t rely. Whether or not you just like the man doesn’t rely,” Cooper mentioned. “You’ve a man sitting in jail for homicide. I undergo you there’s not any proof to help that.”
Cooper argued that not one of the proof linked Alhakim to the taking pictures or proved that he was the one who drove the automobile to and from King’s house on the morning of the homicide.
However Steele, the district legal professional, insisted that the proof pointed to a “homicide for rent” situation, citing too many “coincidences” within the case, together with GPS data from Alhakim’s cellphone that confirmed him touring from West Philadelphia to Cheltenham on the morning of April 11, then circling again moments after King was killed.
“How does he know Rachel? How does he know her deal with?” Steele urged jurors to think about. “That’s not all of the proof you may have on this case. However it will be sufficient.”
King’s son, Jalen, who was sitting within the again seat and witnessed his mother being shot to loss of life, was not bodily damage however stays traumatized and struggling to manage practically a yr later.
Members of the family mentioned the boy was heartbroken that he by no means had the prospect to hug his mother one final time.
