Dad on trial for 1995 murder of daughter's mother (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Back in 1995, the "estranged wife" of dad CORBIN THOMAS was killed by a gunman who broke into her house and shot her in the head. The daughter--who was then 7 years of age--was tied up and left in an upstairs room. Dad is now on trial for what has been described as a contract murder. Seems Daddy raped and abused the mother all through their marriage, and that he was afraid she would tell the FBI about the international drug cartel he ran. The surviving daughter is now 21.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20100414_Father_grills_daughter_over__95_slaying.html

Father grills daughter over '95 slaying
By MENSAH M. DEAN
Philadelphia Daily News

deanm@phillynews.com 215-854-5949

A most uncomfortable father-daughter reunion unfolded in a Philadelphia courtroom yesterday, as a long-delayed murder trial got under way.

Defendant Corbin Thomas, 46, acting as his own attorney, questioned his daughter, Danielle, 21, about the November 1995 murder of Hope Smith Thomas - his estranged wife, her mother.

Danielle, who was 7 years old when a gunman wearing a wolfman mask tied her up and fatally shot her mother inside their East Mount Airy home, never looked at her father.

She repeatedly grimaced while grudgingly answering Thomas' questions, such as if her maternal grandmother had ever suggested to her that Thomas killed his wife.

"Everyone on my mother's side of the family believes you put a hit out on my mother," Danielle replied.

She said that the gunman asked for money, seemed familiar, addressed them by name and spoke with a Jamaican accent.

Thomas, sporting chin whiskers and wearing a tie, wrinkled black blazer, black khakis and white sneakers, told the Court of Common Pleas jury during opening arguments that the case was not about his drug-dealing past nor about the adultery he'd committed while married to Hope Thomas, 29.

No, said Thomas, through a mellow Jamaican accent, the case is about a murder that he had nothing to do with.

The gunman - whom authorities concede was not Corbin Thomas - shot Hope Thomas through the forehead in a basement bathroom shower stall. Danielle was tied up and left in an upstairs room.

"I did not pay anyone to put a bullet in the head of my wife, and especially did not pay someone to tie up my daughter," continued Thomas, arguing that he had no motive and would never bring such trauma to his child.

Assistant District Attorney Gail Fairman told the panel of eight men and six women that Thomas was, in fact, guilty as charged of murder and conspiracy.

Fairman said that the jury would hear a complex case that included details about Thomas' multimillion-dollar drug cartel that spanned several states and stretched to his native Jamaica.

The jurors, Fairman said, would hear from Thomas' second-in-command, Gary Gordon, who is now doing 20 to 40 years in federal prison. He would testify about how Thomas spoke of having Hope Thomas killed for fear that she'd tell the FBI about his drug ring.

And, Fairman said, the jury would hear about how it made sense for Thomas to order the hit because he cared so little for Hope, having raped and beaten her, and fathered children with other women during their marriage - which began in August 1988 and was soon to end in divorce.

After hearing all the facts, Fairman said, "you will be able to return to this courtroom and lift up the mask of the killer of Hope Thomas."

Then, she said, the "puppet master" that is Corbin Thomas would also be revealed.

Thomas fled to Jamaica after learning that detectives wanted to question him. He was arrested in Great Britain in 2001 and extradited to the U.S. in 2005, after Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham promised not to seek the death penalty.

In 2007, Thomas was convicted in federal court of drug dealing and sentenced to serve 34 years.
Thomas' cousin, Winston Thomas, also know as Michael Titos McPherson, is believed to have been the mask-wearing gunman. Authorities believe that he fled with Thomas to Jamaica, where he was murdered in the drug world.