State Supreme Court Upholds Marcel Johnson’s Sentence

In response to an appeal, the Pennsylvania  Supreme Court ruled recently to uphold Marcel Johnson’s death sentence in connection to the homicide of a pregnant woman and her 4-year-old daughter.

Marcel Johnson, 24, filed an appeal that was rejected by the Supreme Court that cited problems with sufficiency of the evidence, suppression rulings, decisions to introduce evidence and other issues.

“Having found no reversible error, we affirm Johnson’s convictions and judgment of sentence,” a panel of judges wrote in their May decision. The decision was first mentioned Monday by Doylestown Intelligencer reporter Christian Menno.

Johnson was convicted in June 2015 for the November 2013 homicides and an arson that led to the sentence of death for the murder of R’mani Rankins, 4, and life in prison for the killing of five-months pregnant Ebony Talley, 22.

Prosecutors made the case that Johnson, who had a troubled childhood, killed Talley, her unborn child and little R’Mani inside a subletted apartment at the Avalon Court complex on Bristol-Oxford Valley Road in Bristol Township. In a failed effort to hide his crimes, he set fire to the apartment and fled the scene in a vehicle that a witness spotted.

Sources told LevittownNow.com at the time that both Talley and Johnson were involved in the Lower Bucks County drug trade. During the trial, it was revealed that bags similar to those used to package heroin – labeled “#1 way to go” – were found near Talley’s body, and the prosecution argued Johnson wanted more of her business.

A deputy coroner said Talley was stabbed around 30 times before the arson fire. Talley womb was punctured and the male fetus inside died due to his mother’s injuries. The little girl was rushed by first responders to the hospital but died from a  large stab wound on her upper chest and suffered third-degree burns on her stomach, according to testimony.

Johnson is the sixth person to be sentenced to death for crimes committed in Bucks County in recent years. The 22 year old joins Frank Chester (1989), Robert Diamond (2009), Robert Flor  (2006), Richard Laird (1989) and Alfonso Sanchez  (2008) on death row.

Johnson’s brother, Montel, is in state prison for 20 to 40 years for his role in a botched robbery that led to the death of a family pet.