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Trial in shooting death to begin Tuesday for Allegheny Co. man

A Butler County jury will be called to court in Butler Tuesday for the trial against an Allegheny County man charged with fatally shooting a Philadelphia man in 2017 during a confrontation at a Wick Street apartment, according to the Common Pleas Court's schedule.

Police spent nearly three months searching for David J. “Dae Dae” Franklin, 22, of Brackenridge, who is accused of shooting a man on March 16, 2017, at an apartment complex during an incident that investigators said was in regard to $900 Franklin believed had been stolen from him.

Police said an argument took a sudden, violent turn when Franklin met up with Rashaan Khalil “Smoke” Adams and A.J. Hoy at the 123 Wick St. apartment, and Adams was shot and killed around 10 a.m.

Franklin, who was wanted on felony charges of criminal homicide and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure, was picked up by the U.S. Marshals Service Capitol Area Regional Fugitive Task Force after authorities received information that he was staying in the Richmond, Va., area. He was extradited to Pennsylvania and, on June 2, 2017, taken into custody by Butler City Police.

He has been in the Butler County Prison ever since a bond for his release was denied by District Judge William Fullerton.

An autopsy determined that Adams was shot three times: once in the chest and twice in the head.

Butler County Coroner William Young III said his office's investigation found that the wound to Adams' chest was a “contact wound,” indicating the barrel of the gun was close to or pressed up against his body.

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