Court adjourned for Philadelphia man charged with violent Chadds Ford home burglary – Daily Local

WESTCHESTER The scheduled trial of a Philadelphia man accused of orchestrating a brutal and heinous home invasion robbery that had been perpetrated by a prostitute has resumed after the judge who will preside over him withdrew from the case.

On Thursday, Common Pleas Judge Allison Bell Royer signed an injunction not to hear the trial of Kareem Abdul Harper-El, who is charged with stealing several weapons, jewelry and cash from a Chadds Ford man after a gun whipped him and threatened to kill him. in her home.

Royer decided to hand the case over to another judge after overseeing the case since it was heard in 2019. The case was set for jury selection on Monday.

In his order, Royer noted that Harper-El had chosen to have his case adjudicated on a non-jury basis and because he had heard and completed several previous motions to dismiss the case or suppress evidence, he is legally unable to act as a trial judge because he has heard the evidence. in unacceptable and very detrimental cases.

Royer has presided over a jury trial of a woman who allegedly assisted Harper-El in arranging a robbery by proposing the victim to sex-for-money at her home. He decided that after hearing pre-trial matters in this case, he could not be fair and impartial in deciding the case.

Harper-El had requested that the case be heard by a judge and not a jury last Tuesday, August 24. He has served as his own attorney for more than two years, and has filed several pre-trial motions seeking to get the case against him dismissed. Royer decided to resign without a formal request from Harper-El.

It is not clear who will now oversee the trial, and when it will be scheduled. Judges in the Common Pleas Court adjudicating criminal cases had set their trial schedule months in advance due to restrictions placed on jury selection due to COVID-19 concerns.

Harper-El, 38, of Philadelphia is being held on $250,000 bail at the Chester County Jail. He was charged with robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated assault, illegal possession of a firearm and related charges in the case.

The case involves dramatic testimony from the victim in the case, which provides graphic details of how she was beaten and threatened by two men who forced their way into her home after she had sex with a woman she knew from a previous encounter and who had contacted her suddenly on Friday. August 2018 to arrange another meeting. He didn’t realize that the woman, Renada Barbara Bree Myers, was working with the men to rob him.

I remember thinking, This is how I’m going to die, the man testified in May at the Myers trial, during the dramatic recollection of the events of that night. He said he thought, Is this how (my family) will remember me? I wish they would kill me and get me out of my misery, said the man, starting to cry softly in the witness stand.

The man was eventually able to escape the couple by jumping out of a back window and hiding in the woods behind his home before running into a neighbor’s house, covered in blood, and calling the state police.

Myers, 25, of Caln, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary, and theft, and a number of prostitution and criminal use of communication facilities. He is being held in the county jail awaiting sentencing.

Police said Harper-El, 38, was found in possession of one of the five guns stolen from the man’s home during a search of the stolen car he was driving in Philadelphia shortly after the break-in, a car thought to belong to Myers. brother. The second person in the robbery has not been identified or arrested.

The state police, led by Trooper Stefano Gallina from the Avondale barracks, were able to use state-of-the-art cell phone technology to reconstruct text conversations between Myers and Harper-El, as well as the victims of the robbery before it happened, explaining what their plans were. . It was the texts that initially led the police to Myers, who in a lengthy and rambling statement to Gallina eventually admitted to his involvement in Harper-El’s crimes and crimes.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.