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However, they cleared a co-defendant of a weapons offense and hindering the apprehension and prosecution of himself and the accused gunman, Randy Manning.
Jurors deliberated for six days before returning not-guilty verdicts on weapons and obstruction charges against co-defendant Delroy Clarke in the killing of Rhian “Kampane” Stoute.
Delroy Clarke, defense attorney Kevin Roe (STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter)
“I am speechless,” Clarke told CLIFFVIEW PILOT following the verdict. “I have no words.”
Clarke, a native of Trinidad who lives in Englewood, kept his head bowed during most of the reading of the verdict, even after hearing “not guilty” four times.
Jurors acquitted him of having a handgun without a permit and three counts of hindering prosecution, one of himself and two of Manning.
At the same time, the jurors said they need to return tomorrow to continue deliberating Manning’s fate.
Prosecutors said Manning’s brother, Cory, told investigators that he saw his brother emerge from the rear of a Tryon Avenue house in Englewood where Kampane’s body had been burned on Aug. 15, 2011. As the two talked, they said he told them, Randy Manning displayed a .40-caliber automatic Glock handgun in his waistband.
A day or two later, he said he saw Clarke with the same gun, prosecutors said.
Cory Manning recanted on the witness stand during the trial, however, saying his statement was coerced.
Prosecutors said the Glock was used to kill Stoute, who they said was hit by four bullets — including one that entered his right shoulder and tore through his heart. The gun was never recovered.
Rhian “Kampane” Stout
They said Manning set fire to the body in an attempt to destroy the evidence, then returned to the house the next day and moved it in Stoute’s SUV to Village Circle West in Paramus,.
Prosecutors presented records of cellphone calls made among Randy Manning, Clarke and Manning’s girlfriend, Natuchka Etienne; eyewitness testimony of a Paramus neighbor who said he saw Manning leave Stoute’s car, with his body in it, on Village Square West; a bloody footprint on boxes that were found under Stoute’s body in the Tahoe, and clothing tied to the murder that was recovered from a Brooklyn storm drain.
The sweatshirt matches one that a Paramus witness said he saw the man running from the Tahoe wearing after the vehicle was abandoned, she said.
Manning, a national of Trinidad and Tobago, used to live on Belmont Street in Englewood before moving to Brooklyn.
His defense lawyer, Tana McPherson, focused during the trial on various aspects of the investigation, including an interrogation by detectives that she said lasted 20 hours.
“They get right up in your face, ‘You did it, you did it, we know you’re guilty, you’re going to prison, you’re a liar’ – not once, not twice – but 50 times,” she told jurors during her opening argument.
She said mounting threats of having his girlfriend jailed affected him and that his confession in some cases was inconsistent with the evidence.
Clarke’s attorney, Kevin W. Roe, insisted that his client had nothing to do with Stoute’s murder.
Clarke denied “being present or ever having a weapon,” Roe said.
He also questioned Cory Manning’s role.
“Was he more involved than he wants you to believe? Where was he when all this was happening?” Roe asked jurors.
Prosecutors said Randy Manning and Stoute spent the day before the killing shopping together at malls in Paramus.
Sometime after they broke into the Englewood house, prosecutors said, Manning shot Stoute several times in the head and chest, then set a fire to try and destroy the evidence.
Prosecutors said Manning took off in Stoute’s black 2001 Chevy Tahoe after the killing, heading to Brooklyn, then returned the next day and put it in the rear cargo area.
He “randomly selected” Village Circle West in Paramus and abandoned the SUV there, they said.
As he ran from the Tahoe, prosecutors said, Manning tossed clothing and other evidence. They said he then walked up to Route 4 and Forest Avenue, where he called and was picked up by Clarke.
A neighbor called Paramus police just before 8 that morning to report a suspicious vehicle with New York license plates on the block. Looking through its windows, the responding officers could see Kampane’s body.
Altogether, Manning is accused of murder, felony murder, arson, possession of a hangun with the intent to cause bodily harm or death, desecration of human remains, breaking into the house, moving the body, concealing evidence, giving police false information and stealing Stoute’s SUV.
Roe said the trial has turned Clarke’s world upside down, and that his client is looking forward to returning to life as he knew it.
STORY / COURTROOM PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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CLIFFVIEW PILOT BROKE THE STORIES:
- Surprises open trial in Englewood murder of rapper Kampane: The key witness for prosecutors in the trial of a man charged with killing rapper Kampane, setting his body on fire in an empty Englewood house and then leaving the corpse in an SUV parked on a Paramus cul-de-sac will be the defendant’s own brother. READ MORE ….
- Trial set in Englewood murder of rapper Kampane: The man accused of murdering rapper Kampane, setting his body on fire in an empty Englewood house and then leaving the corpse in an SUV parked on a Paramus cul-de-sac will go to trial in January. READ MORE….
- Kampane’s accused killer claims Miranda rights violation: A judge in Hackensack is expected to rule on whether the man accused of murdering rapper Kampane, burning his body and then leaving it in a car on a Paramus side street was properly read his rights before being questioned by police. READ MORE…
Rhian “Kampane” Stoute
- Arrests in murder of rapper Kampane: An ex-con shot the rapper Kampane in the head in a vacant Englewood house, torched the place, then went back to the scene the next day, removed the charred body and left it in the rear cargo of the victim’s SUV on a quiet Paramus street, say authorities who arrested him and two accused accomplices. READ MORE….
- Autopsy confirms rapper Kampane shot before body burned: The rapper Kampane was shot in the head and killed, then torched in a vacant Englewood apartment, by a former city resident who later went back to the scene, removed the charred body and left it in the rear cargo of the victim’s SUV on a Paramus street, say authorities who arrested him and two accused accomplices. READ MORE….
- Burned body of rapper Kampane found in car in Paramus: The man whose burned body was found in the cargo area of an SUV on a quiet Paramus street this morning has been identified as Brooklyn rapper Kampane. In a tragic irony, the hip-hop artist’s revamped website opens with the sound of a police siren. READ MORE….
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Born in Brooklyn, raised in Flatbush, Stoute was related to the producer J Runnah, who has worked with Jay Z, among others.
“It’s all about the game and how you play your cards,” Stoute sang, touting the joys of living and enjoying the rewards of his new-found fame.
He released his first mix tape in 1997, then went on tour in 2000 with J Runnah and Roc-a-Fella, learning the music business, according to his website, iamkampane.com.
He was in the middle of a major promotional push behind his new music video, “What You Drinkin’ On,” a playful tune, complete with one-liners and wordplay about champagne and other spirits. “This is Part One / I’m tryin’ to get to Part Two,” he sings. “Let’s get it on.”
Stoute would have turned 34 two weeks after he was murdered.
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