Grandmother of man accused in fatal Jeannette shooting offers alibi

A grandmother took the witness stand Thursday and said her grandson — a man on trial for a brazen daylight murder in downtown Jeannette — was in Florida at the time of the fatal shooting.

Shirley Muhammad testified her paternal grandson, Darrelle Tolbert-McGhee, 30, of Penn Hills, was in Orlando in April 2017 to settle his late father’s estate, including on the day that prosecutors claim he gunned down 32-year-old Michael Wilson on Clay Avenue.

“He was in Orlando, Florida. I know that for a fact,” Muhammad testified.

Her testimony came on the third day of the trial before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio. The defense contends the man who shot and killed Wilson was Tolbert-McGhee’s identical twin brother, Dwayne, who was killed 13 months later in Wilkinsburg.

Assistant District Attorney Pete Caravello rested the prosecution’s case Thursday after testimony from 10 witnesses, including several people who said Darrelle Tolbert-McGhee was in Jeannette at the time of the shooting.

Video from three surveillance cameras were played for jurors, including one that depicted Wilson’s shooting. Wilson’s former girlfriend, who said she knew both brothers, testified the man in the video was Darrelle Tolbert-McGhee. She said she made that identification from his facial features and by the manner in which he walked.

To counter her testimony, Muhammad told jurors on Thursday that she has known the Tolbert-McGhee brothers since their birth and that they had no differentiating physical features.

“I could never distinguish them, tell them apart,” Muhammad testified. “I can’t identify them. I never could. I just called them twins. They had the same personality.”

Muhammad also claimed Darrelle Tolbert-McGhee had an alibi for the time of the shooting.

She said she spoke with him by phone when Wilson was killed but conceded she had no phone records or other documentation prove that he was in Florida.

Defense attorney Tim Dawson said another alibi witnesses, who lives in the Orlando area, is expected to confirm that Tolbert-McGhee was in Florida in April 2017. After the judge refused to allow him to testify Thursday via phone, Dawson said he made arrangements for that witness to fly to Pennsylvania and be in court to testify Friday.

Tolbert-McGhee is not expected to take the stand, Dawson said.

Closing arguments are expected Friday, followed by jury deliberations.