Testimony begins in trial of trio accused of carjacking, killing man
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - Prosecution testimony got underway today in the trial of two convicted felons and another man accused of gunning down a 24-year-old Riverside resident after carjacking him and his girlfriend.
Trezell Lamone Heckard, 30, of Vallejo, Anthony Antoine Wright, 33, of Indio, and Qevon Xavier Harvey, 27, of Desert Hot Springs are accused in the 2022 slaying of Benjamin Chanes.
The trio are all charged with first-degree murder, two counts each of carjacking and kidnapping and one count of burglary, along with special circumstance allegations of killing in the course of a robbery, killing in the course of a kidnapping and killing in the course of a burglary.
Wright is additionally charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The prosecution and defense presented opening statements Monday after Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Koosed seated a jury. The District Attorney's Office summoned its first witnesses Tuesday morning at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
According to an arrest warrant declaration filed by the Riverside Police Department, on the afternoon of March 6, 2022, Chanes and his girlfriend, identified in documents only as ``N.D.,'' were returning to Riverside from Los Angeles in her vehicle, with the victim at the wheel, when they came to a stop in an unfamiliar area after exiting the freeway and were immediately approached by one of the defendants, allegedly wielding a handgun.
The man approached the driver's side and ordered Benjamin out at gunpoint, the affidavit stated. Chanes complied, at which point an additional three men ``told N.D. to get out of the car, and they took her to another waiting vehicle and told her to keep her head down. She did what she was told.''
The woman later told Robbery-Homicide Unit detectives that Chanes was seated in her car, while she was forced to drive with several of the defendants in their vehicle, a 2011 Chevrolet Impala. The trip lasted 15 minutes, after which both vehicles were parked outside the Boulder Creek Apartment Complex on Iowa Avenue, according to the declaration.
Police alleged the defendants then hustled Chanes and N.D. into the victim's apartment, pushing the woman into a closet, then demanding to know from Chanes ``where the money was'' kept. For about 10 minutes, the defendants ransacked the apartment, with N.D. in the closet, unable to see where her boyfriend was being held, the affidavit alleged.
Chanes abruptly bolted from the apartment when the men were distracted, but they immediately gave chase, according to police. While he was attempting to run away, Wright allegedly opened fire on the victim, inflicting multiple gunshots to his back, causing Chanes to collapse on the sidewalk, according to the affidavit.
The young man died a short time later at Riverside Community Hospital.
The defendants fled in the woman's vehicle, leaving behind their own Chevy sedan, police alleged. N.D. emerged from the closet and called 911 moments after the gunfire. She was not injured.
Detectives gathered fingerprint and other evidence from the Chevy, leading them to one of the defendants' social media accounts, during which revelations about the shooting ultimately came to light, according to the affidavit.
The men were arrested at different times over an 18-month span.
Their co-defendant, Kahlin Cynque Erwin, 30, of Pittsburg, Calif., pleaded guilty last year to kidnapping and is due for sentencing in January. He's free on a $55,000 bond and may testify for the prosecution.
Harvey and Wright are each being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail, while Heckard is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.
Details regarding his and Wright's prior convictions were unavailable.
