Credit: Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
A yearslong probe and a grand jury investigation led to two Philadelphia men being charged in connection to a 2016 homicide in Bristol Township.
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George Javon Clark, 33, and John Marquis Wilson, 43, were preliminarily arraigned before Judge Kevin Wagner on Thursday and were sent to Bucks County Correctional Facility.
The case had been sealed, and the grand jury presentment was released on Friday.
Clark has been charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, criminal use of a communication facility, conspiracy to commit criminal use of a communication facility, criminal attempt to commit theft by unlawful taking, conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking, theft from a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit theft from a motor vehicle, and possession of an instrument of crime.
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Wilson is facing charges of third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, criminal use of a communication facility, conspiracy to commit criminal use of a communication facility, conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking, and conspiracy to commit theft from a motor vehicle.
The men are accused of killing Herbert Lyals, 38, outside his family member’s home on Truman Street in Bristol Township. Lyals was killed on his birthday and had just stepped out from his party.
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According to police, officers were called via 9-1-1 to the 5600 block of Truman Street at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday, July 27, 2016. They arrived to find Lyals deceased on the sidewalk outside of the home.
An autopsy found Lyals died from two gunshot wounds to the face, according to court papers.
The grand jury found that Clark and Wilson had planned to rob Lyals of his birthday money, and Clark ended up shooting him.
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Bristol Township police and Bucks County Detectives used cell phone tracking technology to determine the locations of the defendants around the time of the homicide.
Clark had previous run-ins with police as a juvenile and also as an adult, including a firearms offense in Philadelphia, according to court papers.
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“We would like to thank the extraordinary work of Bristol Township and Bucks County Detectives and the Bucks County Investigating Grand Jury for their commitment to bringing justice to the family of Herbert Lyals,” the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
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