Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse woman was stabbed to death in a fight over social distancing in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But who started it?
For the third time in recent months, an Onondaga County jury is hearing about the fight between Fontasia Toran and Chennal Price-Green in June 2020 that left Price-Green dead. It took two trials to convict Toran’s husband, Julius Brown, of being the actual killer who plunged a knife into Price-Green (his first jury deadlocked).
The story is different the third time around, though.
That’s because Toran is now on trial, accused of asking her husband to commit the homicide outside the Syracuse Community Health Center downtown. It’s not a whodunnit anymore; it’s whether prosecutors can prove that Toran wanted her adversary dead and convinced her husband to kill her.
Prosecutor Jordan Aiello told the jury during opening statements Tuesday that evidence showed that Toran was the aggressor in the social-distancing dispute, hurling threats at Price-Green in a waiting room on the health center’s second floor.
Not true, countered defense lawyer Paul Carey.
In fact, the dispute started in the entranceway to the health center, where an unmasked Price-Green picked a verbal fight with Toran over social-distancing (not staying six feet apart), he contended.
In the second-floor waiting room, Toran called her mom. But it wasn’t to plan a murder: she wanted advice on how to deal with Price-Green’s aggression, Carey contended.
Yes, he acknowledged, Toran became upset and loud during the dispute, which temporarily halted when staff placed the women in separate exam rooms.
But the phone calls to family -- including her husband after the doctor’s exam -- were not proof that Toran was asking them to kill Price-Green, he told the jury. Toran simply called Brown to let him know she was ready to go home, Carey said.
If so, why did Toran join Brown and other relatives to continue the fight with Price-Green outside of the health center? the prosecutor questioned.
Toran “waited to continue this fight and she ended it,” Aiello said.
The confrontation continued with Toran, Brown and several other female relatives.
Carey said there’s evidence that Price-Green may have had a weapon of her own. Aiello described it as a small cuticle knife.
RELATED: Syracuse judge shocked by convicted killer’s wild claim: ‘As ludicrous as I’ve ever heard’
The prior jury found that Brown stabbed Price-Green to death. This jury will be asked to decide whether Toran asked him to. If so, she could be convicted as an accomplice.
Toran took a big risk before trial, betting that her lawyer could convince the jury that she’s innocent. She rejected a 5-year prison sentence on a reduced reckless manslaughter charge.
If convicted of murder, Toran faces up to 25 years to life in prison. That would be a harsher sentence than the actual killer, her husband Brown, who was found guilty at his trial of intentional manslaughter. He’s serving a 25-year prison sentence for stabbing Price-Green to death.
Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-6070.
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