Prosecutors to retry alleged conspirator in Riverside carjack-murder

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ) - Prosecutors confirmed today that they intend to retry an alleged conspirator in the carjacking and killing of a 24-year-old Riverside man, with retrial proceedings tentatively set for April.

A Riverside jury was unable to overcome an impasse in deliberations last week during the trial of Qevon Xavier Harvey, 27, of Desert Hot Springs, leading to a mistrial.   

Harvey is charged with first-degree murder, robbery, carjacking, burglary and special circumstance allegations of killing in the course of a burglary, killing during a kidnapping and killing during a robbery in the 2022 slaying of Benjamin Chanes.

During a status hearing Wednesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, the Riverside County District Attorney's Office acknowledged Harvey will be retried, prompting Superior Court Judge Charles Koosed to schedule the start of jury selection for April 14.

A separate jury last week convicted Harvey's co-defendant, Trezell Lamone Heckard, 30, of Vallejo of the murder count, as well as robbery, carjacking, burglary and a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a burglary. Jurors hung on the other special circumstance allegations. Heckard is slated to be sentenced on April 24.   

Harvey is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail. Heckard is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.   

A third alleged conspirator, Anthony Antoine Wright, 33, of Indio is also accused in the killing. He's charged identically to Heckard and Harvey, but is additionally charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations. Trial proceedings for Wright are tentatively scheduled to begin at the same time as Harvey's.  

Wright is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.   

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 him 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, wielding a handgun.   

The defendant ``approached the driver's side and ordered Benjamin out at gunpoint,'' the affidavit stated.  

Chanes complied, at which point additional males ``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 declaration said.   

The woman later told 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 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.   

When the men were distracted, Chanes abruptly bolted from the apartment. 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., who was not injured, emerged from the closet and called 911 moments after the gunfire.

Detectives gathered fingerprint and other evidence from the Chevy, leading them to one of the defendants' social media accounts, in 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 Pittsburgh, Calif., pleaded guilty in 2024 to kidnapping and is due for sentencing on June 8. He's free on a $55,000 bond.

Details regarding his and Wright's prior convictions were unavailable.