Mother Testifies Against Son In Murder Trial

A mother testified against her son in his trial for killing a father of nine outside of a business in Middletown Township.

On Tuesday at the Justice Center in Doylestown Borough, Joyce Brown-Rodriguez, 56, of Philadelphia, testified against her son, Kahlill Saleem Brown, 33, of Philadelphia, in his trial on charges that he killed Christopher M. Wilson, 52, of Philadelphia, on the morning of December 10, 2020 outside the recycling center where he worked in Middletown Township.

Brown-Rodriguez pleaded guilty last December to third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder of the third degree, possession of a firearm, false swearing, and related offenses. She will be sentenced later this summer.

In court and wearing a Bucks County Department of Corrections jumpsuit, Brown-Rodriguez said she was testifying against her son in hopes of getting a better sentence.

Brown-Rodriguez and Brown were charged last year with killing Wilson, who was Brown-Rodriguez’s friend and had an affair with her. The charges came after an extensive investigation by Middletown Township police, the Bucks County Detectives, and an investigative grand jury.

Authorities have said Brown and Brown-Rodriguez waited in the parking lot of Kuusakoski Inc.’s former Wheeler Way facility. When Wilson arrived, he was gunned down in the parking lot.

Richard J. Fuschino Jr., Brown’s defense attorney, pressed Brown-Rodriguez on lies she previously told detectives and the grand jury. He noted her story changed once she was thinking about her sentencing.

“I told them a lie, yes,” Brown-Rodriguez said.

“There was more than one lie. They were pretty involved,” Fuschino responded.

Brown-Rodriguez testified she didn’t plan to kill Wilson and had no idea her son would pull the trigger while she waited in the car in the parking lot.

The mother, who had also been raising her son’s daughter, said she was waiting in a car and heard a pop, which she believed was a gunshot.

“I said to [my son]: ‘what the f**k did you just do? I thought you were going to talk to him,’” Brown-Rodriguez said.

“He said: ‘I didn’t feel like talking,’” she testified.

Brown-Rodriguez told the court she moved the car to pick up her son after the shooting and the two fled back to Philadelphia. She said she was so shaken she missed the turn to I-95 and had to take Route 1 back home.

Brown sat quietly and took notes as his mother pinned the murder on him during testimony.

Brown-Rodriguez testified that Wilson was a “good man” and had comforted her when her mother died. She grew close with him amid trouble with her husband.

When pressed by the defense on allegations Brown-Rodriguez had harassed and stalked Wilson after the affair ended, Brown-Rodriguez denied the allegations and said Wilson had tried to blackmail her.

A suicide note from an attempt made by Brown-Rodriguez once she was in custody blamed the murder on her estranged husband and son. She wrote she wanted to “clear my name.”

Brown-Rodriguez admitted the statements in the suicide note weren’t true.

Brown-Rodriguez was the prosecution’s key witness during the trial that began Monday.

Detectives Eric Landamia and David Hanks, of the district attorney’s office, both testified Tuesday.

Landamia testified the mother and son were texting during break in their initial questioning by detectives. In one text, the duo realized police were of the belief to the two were speaking.

Deputy District Attorney A.J. Garabedian and Fuschino are expected to present their closing arguments on Wednesday.

The jury will then deliberate.

Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Finley is overseeing the trial.

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