Criticism and The controversial six-minute time slot is at the heart of the PnB rock band's murder trial, which wrapped up closing arguments Tuesday and is now in the hands of a jury in Compton, California.
Prosecutors say the six minutes between 1:14 p.m. and 1:20 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2022, was the time it took accused murderer Freddie Trone, 42, to pull out of the parking lot of Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles, arm his 17-year-old son with a semi-automatic handgun, a ski mask and a robbery plot, then take the teen back to the restaurant for what would lead to the murder of PnB Rock, born Rakim Allen.
Trone’s defense attorney, Winston McKesson, presented jurors with an alternative scenario during his closing argument Tuesday. He said Trone left the Roscoe home at 1:14 p.m., drove to his beauty supply store two minutes away, turned around to use the bathroom and stole his son’s Buick Enclave — then returned to the Roscoe home with three others. McKesson urged jurors to look closely at surveillance video that shows the shooter getting out of the car outside the Roscoe home in South Los Angeles. He said the teen is seen exiting the Roscoe home from the driver’s seat, entering and exiting the Roscoe home, running back to the nearest back door before hesitating and circling around the back seat on the driver’s side.
“That means there were more people in the car,” McKesson alleged. He called the video “critical,” not only because it supports his client’s claim that he was no longer driving, but also because it “cuts to the heart” of Deputy District Attorney Timothy Richardson’s claim that Tron was out to make a fortune by stealing jewelry from the famous rapper. He said Tron wouldn’t have trusted his son enough to “buy a can of soup” and wouldn’t have asked more people to help the teen carry out the alleged crime.
“I agree that whoever is behind this is looking for money,” McKesson said. “You don’t want to share the money. Why would you bring three other guys in there? You’d have to split the money three other ways.”
In his final response after McKesson spoke, Richardson told jurors that the crucial six minutes were not enough to support Trone’s version of events. He claimed that surveillance video from neighborhood cameras “shows you where the car went,” and that going to Trone’s store, several blocks away, was “impossible.”
“In six minutes, the defense wants you to believe that. [the teen shooter] “He gathered his kids, strapped on a belt, jumped in his father’s car, and drove back to the Roscoe family home,” Richardson argued. “Coincidence? No. Coordinated actions? Yes.”
Richardson delivered the bulk of his closing argument Monday, reviewing multiple surveillance video clips that pieced together Allen’s final hours and subsequent events, including Trone’s movements before he burned the Enclave a few blocks from his wife’s residence after the shooting. On Tuesday, McKesson argued that with “all of this footage” investigators have collected, the only time his client was seen getting into the car was when he left the Roscoe parking lot after speaking with his co-defendant, Tremont Jones, for three minutes before 1:14 p.m. The attorney said the “covered” item Jones handed Trone during the meeting was a bag of marijuana, not a gun provided for an alleged robbery plot.
“He told you why he buys pot. He said it was because smoking marijuana worked better to balance his son’s chemical imbalance and had a better overall effect than Adderall,” McKesson said, referring to the teen’s diagnoses we discussed earlier.
The attorney also used his final speech to the jury to criticize investigators for not collecting surveillance video from the area around Trone’s salon, about a half-mile away. He argued that such video would have supported Trone’s claim that his son had stolen his car and that an unidentified person in a maroon SUV had picked him up so he could search for his son. The defense attorney also argued that prosecutors had no evidence of any contact between Trone and Jones before they met in a Roscoe parking lot about a half-hour after Allen fist-bumped Jones as he entered Roscoe with his fist, Stephanie Sibonhiwang.
“There is no evidence that my client was called to come there, no phone calls, no text messages. They want you to believe that he just had a hunch that his services would be needed in a murder and robbery,” McKesson alleged. He claimed that investigators “made up their minds” and “ignored” anything that might prove his client’s innocence. “There is no evidence that my client planned anything. You have no evidence that he intended anything,” he said. “This young man [shooter] “He acted independently of his father. There is no evidence that he had control over this boy.”
Richardson denied that he was under no obligation to prove extensive pre-planning or that Jones even met the teenage shooter before the killing. He called the alleged robbery plot an “opportunistic crime” that turned deadly. Richardson said it was “amazing” that Trone would admit he was buying marijuana for his son to replace prescription drugs.
Richardson urged jurors to question why Trone did not identify the person who allegedly picked him up in the burgundy SUV. “This is the person who can explain those six minutes of Mr. Freddie Trone’s life,” Richardson said. “He just needs those six minutes of explanation, not to have it captured on camera. Mr. Freddie Trone didn’t want to give you the name of that person — the only person who gave an alibi.” He said the reason was because the driver “wasn’t there.”
Richardson then signaled to Allen’s mother, Diana Allen, that he was about to play the video from inside the Roscoe home again for the jury. Diana quietly left the courtroom first. Addressing the jury, she said: rolling stone Diana said Monday she was “shocked” when she saw the photo of her son's autopsy shown on the courtroom screen, calling Tron's story “ridiculous.”
“I’m here for justice. I want justice. This was my son, my baby,” Diana said. “I want the jury to know that he has a family that loves him and wants to support him.”
Jones, for his part, has said he played no role in the alleged father-son robbery scheme. His attorney, David Haas, reminded the jury Tuesday that his client is not charged with murder, but with two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy. He said Jones was known to the Roscoe family, so the prosecution’s theory that Jones handed Trone a gun in plain view of the Roscoe home’s security camera “makes no sense.” Haas also highlighted the lack of any phone calls or electronic communications on the day of the shooting except for a one-second phone call between Trone and Jones, which he dismissed as meaningless.
“This case is very weak,” Haas said in his closing argument. “What if Mr. Jones was just a marijuana dealer?” The jury of four women and eight men deliberated for two hours Tuesday and is scheduled to return Wednesday morning.
Allen's shocking death shook the hip-hop community. The Philadelphia-born artist became a major star in 2016 with his triple-platinum single “Selfish.” That same year, rolling stone Dubbed the new artist you need to know, he has continued to find fame through collaborations such as his 2019 hit “Cross Me” with Ed Sheeran.
After the killing, Allen’s fiancée faced a barrage of online accusations that her post about their meal at Roscoe’s that day led the shooter to their location. When Sibounheuang testified at trial, her since-deleted post was shown to the jury. She maintained that it did not specify where Roscoe’s was and only showed her food. “That social media post was a big deal, but if you think about it, there’s no picture of jewelry in that post. There’s no picture of PnB Rock,” Richardson said in closing arguments Monday. “All the universe knows is that Stephanie was with her friends. Stephanie was with her child. Stephanie was with her mother. That post doesn’t give you a reasonable inference, but the defense wants you to believe that the entire universe knew that PnB Rock was in [the Roscoe’s] In Manchester [Ave.] And the main [Street]”.”
In her harrowing testimony, Sibonhyuang gave her first-hand account of how the hip-hop star pushed her out of the way to save her life when the young man opened fire on the couple inside the restaurant just minutes after they received their food. Speaking to rolling stoneAllen “saved” her life, Sibonhuang said. “He’s a hero. He’s a hero. [Other men] “I would never do that,” she said of his actions to protect her.
