Defense lawyer in homicide trial tells jurors his client killed Pittsburgh U-Haul worker
Corey Dick was behind the counter at a U-Haul in Pittsburgh’s East End on July 27, 2021, getting ready to eat an early dinner.
A man who had been in and out several times that afternoon asking about renting a pickup returned just after 4:30 p.m. and said that the truck he wanted to look at was locked.
Dick’s co-worker Jacob Jaillet, his best friend since kindergarten, went out to help.
Moments later, Dick testified Tuesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, he heard two pops. A customer looked out and shouted for him to call 911.
Dick raced outside the business in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood and found Jaillet shot in the neck and bleeding. Dick applied pressure and waited for help.
“‘Oh my God, oh my God. I need an ambulance right now,’” Dick told 911. “A man just got shot, and they stole our truck.”
Jaillet, who was 21 and a student at Edinboro University, died five days later.
Braijon Burton was arrested a short time after the shooting at the Washington Boulevard business when he crashed the stolen U-Haul pickup into a police car on the city’s 31st Street Bridge ramp following a chase.
Dick was the first witness called in the jury trial of Burton, 24, of Garfield, who is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, reckless endangerment and related charges.
In his opening statement, Burton’s lawyer, Steven Tehovnik, admitted to the jury that his client killed Jaillet.
But Tehovnik urged them to find Burton guilty of the lowest-level murder charge instead of first-degree, which requires premeditation, or second-degree, which is killing a person while committing another felony.
Both carry a mandatory penalty of life in prison with no chance for parole.
“In this case, I’ll be honest and up front with you: My client committed third-degree murder when he killed Mr. Jaillet,” Tehovnik said.
Third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years.
The defense characterized Burton that day as disorganized with illogical thinking.
“The evidence will show Mr. Burton had no plan, no premeditation and no intent,” Tehovnik said.
Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of "Death by Cyanide." She can be reached at pward@triblive.com.
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