Maki Thomas (Photo from ABC6 website).
UPDATE: A commenter helped clarify this story. A jury found Thomas not guilty of the murder charge on Sept. 13, which explains why he was free. We should have done a little more homework before we speculated on that.
Police say the man fatally shot near 49th and Springfield early Saturday morning was 26-year-old Maki Thomas, who was arrested last year in connection with a 2001 murder.
Thomas, who was connected with home addresses in the Overbrook section and the 4100 block of Cambridge St., reportedly called police on a cell phone at about 1:10 a.m. after he had been shot in the head and neck. Police arrived to find Thomas unconscious at the wheel of a Nissan Maxima, which was still running. He was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m.
Thomas was arrested in April 2010 in connection with the March 2001 murder of Quentin Armstrong in front of a deli at 52nd and Warrington. Police had been looking for Thomas for years and almost had him in 2009 when he used his real name to check into a Haverford medical facility to reportedly get a gunshot wound treated. He fled before police arrived.
Police caught Thomas when he was detained at an Atlantic City casino for trying to pass counterfeit bills.
November 8th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
In respect To Maki Thomas he was not charged with the murder of Quentin Armstrong. He went to trail and was found innocent on September 13,2011 and was released. More importantly, another innocent black male was killed for no reason and I do not believe that slandering his name is relevant to his murder. Like Quentin Armstrong Maki Thomas was another gunshot victim.
November 9th, 2011 at 9:31 am
Link us to that verdict? I can’t find anything on that case.
“Innocent” is never a plea in a court hearing. He would have been found not guilty if anything.
November 9th, 2011 at 10:10 am
The information is accessible here:
http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MC.aspx
He was charged with the murder and then found not guilty by a jury on 9/13/2011. WPL probably should have checked that before wondering in print what he was doing on the streets but it’s not slander to say he was charged when he was.
The record also shows that he was arrested earlier this year relating to a controlled substance and the next date of that trial was scheduled for later this month. He previously pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to two years. That’s as much I can garner from his record right now as it goes for two pages. There’s a lot of dismissed charges and charges dropped for lack of prosecution. Again, these are facts, not slander.