Sean Conroy was gasping for breath when a SEPTA police officer found him being attacked by a group of guys on the SEPTA concourse at 13th and Market. Within minutes, the Starbucks manager passed out. Thirty minutes later, he was dead, according to KYW radio.
The trial for three of the five teens accused in that beating got underway Monday. Conroy died from an asthma attack brought on by the March 2008 beating.
Ameer Best, 18, Nashir Fisher, 17, and Kinta Stanton, 17, are charged with third-degree murder and conspiracy in the attack. All three pleaded not guilty.
Conroy's fiancee cried on the stand Monday as she talked about the last time she spoke with Conroy, according to the radio report.
During opening statements, the prosecution said Conroy, 36, was attacked from behind, as a result of a dare.
"What this case is really about is what every mother says to her two-year-old child, 'Keep your hands to yourself...Don't hit other people. Don't kick other people. Don't hurt other people,' " Assistant D.A. Jacquelline Juliano Coelho told jurors, according to The Daily News. "They didn't keep their hands to themselves. They can't back out of it now," said Coelho.
Defense attorneys for Stanton and Fisher admitted in their opening arguments that both teens were at the scene of the crime, but said that they were not involved in the attack.
"If Mr. Conroy was alive, he'd say four people jumped him and Kinta Stanton was not one of them," said attorney Lonny Fish, according to The Daily News.
The other two defendants pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and are waiting to be sentenced.
Get More: KYW Radio, The Daily News
