Judge finds Wilkinsburg man guilty of murdering woman and daughter, 4

A Wilkinsburg man was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder on Monday for the December 2022 shooting deaths of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter.

Marquise St. Julien-Givner, 23, will be sentenced to a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer on Feb. 17.

St. Julien-Givner was charged, along with Tarrell Jennings, 21, of Wilmerding in the attack outside Brooklyn Market in Lincoln-Lemington.

Investigators said four people opened fire on a Jeep Cherokee that was parked outside the store.

Killed were Temani Lewis, 21, of East Hills, and her daughter Kaari Thompson.

Police found 34 shell casings on the scene.

The two defendants went on trial earlier this month, with Jennings opting to have a jury decide his case. St. Julien-Givner chose a bench trial, allowing Beemer to render the verdict.

On Thursday, the jury deliberated for less than five hours before announcing it was hung on Jennings’ charges, and Beemer granted a mistrial.

In announcing his verdict for St. Julien-Givner, Beemer cited evidence presented during the trial in which video showed the two defendants together that evening, beginning at a Chipotle in Shadyside.

The two men, along with three others, could then be seen in video at a BP station minutes before the shooting.

Assistant District Attorney Diana Page also presented evidence from license plate reading cameras that tracked Lewis’ Jeep, with Jennings driving his mother’s Chevy Malibu right behind her shortly before the attack.

According to investigators, Lewis had just picked up her boyfriend at a friend’s house when they stopped at the market in the 1500 block of Lincoln Avenue.

She ran inside for snacks and tobacco while her boyfriend and daughter remained in the car.

As Lewis returned to the car and got in, four people opened fire from all around the vehicle.

Kaari was killed, and Lewis died six days later at the hospital. Her boyfriend was grazed.

At the time of the shooting, Lewis was facing attempted homicide charges for allegedly shooting two people in Homewood that summer. She was scheduled to go to trial the next month.

Owen Seman, who represents St. Julien-Givner, told the judge in his closing argument on Thursday that the prosecution was unable to place his client at the shooting scene.

Although there is video from the attack, the images of the shooter captured at the top of the frame is not clearly visible.

But the prosecution alleged it was St. Julien-Givner by the process of elimination.

He was wearing distinctive clothing that night, and the clothes did not match any of the other three shooters whose attire was visible in the video.

But Seman argued that wasn’t enough.

“What is placing Mr. St. Julien-Givner on the scene?” he asked. “Nothing. Not one person.”

However, in reaching his verdict, the judge said it was clear from the video that St. Julien-Givner was with Jennings throughout the evening.

Beemer concluded it would not have been reasonable that St. Julien-Givner could have gotten out of the vehicle given the short time frame between the shooting and when the defendants were seen together.