By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer
Had things gone as Edward Wilson planned, he would have been a tragic memory for his family, a 54-year-old man who could not cope with the end of the May-October romance with a 26-year-old woman.
Instead, Wilson - face obliterated by the shotgun blast he meant to end his life - found himself in a Philadelphia courtroom Tuesday on trial for murder in the 2009 shooting of Antoinette Austin.
Assistant District Attorney James Berardinelli told the Common Pleas Court jury in his opening statement that the evidence would prove Wilson, now 57, is guilty of first-degree murder.
Berardinelli said the murder was planned by Wilson because Austin, an aspiring cosmetician, had ended their eight-year relationship in October 2008 after Wilson had a debilitating stroke.
Defense attorney Thomas Burke told the jury that Wilson was guilty of nothing more serious than voluntary manslaughter.
Though Burke conceded that Wilson shot and killed Austin, the jury's verdict will mean the difference between life in prison without parole and a sentence of about five to 15 years. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
"When Antoinette Austin broke up with him, it left him heartbroken, devastated, and doubly depressed," Burke said in his opening statement.
Burke noted that when Wilson was cornered in the basement of his house in the first block of North Salford Street in West Philadelphia, he told police, "I just want to die, I just want to die."
"You look at his face," Burke said. "That is what he was left with."
Wilson sat at the defense table staring at the floor with eyes that appear to no longer have lids. Surgeons performed what Burke has called a "miracle of science," rebuilding a semblance of a nose, cheeks, and lower jaw.
Austin lived with Wilson in the Salford Street house for eight years but moved out after the stroke left him angry and physically abusive.
According to previous court testimony, police responded to the report of a body and found Austin about 12:30 p.m. March 18, 2009, at the bottom of a small hill bordering the golf course along Cobbs Creek Park, in the 7500 block of Lansdowne Avenue.
Austin reportedly told police that Wilson shot her and gave enough information to lead police to the Salford Street house and the standoff with Wilson that ended in a shotgun blast at 3:25 p.m.
The prosecution's first and only witness Tuesday was Pamelarn Austin, who wept as she testified about identifying her eldest daughter's body.
Austin also described a frosty relationship with Wilson. She said she was at the Salford Street house once in eight years.
Nor, Austin said, would Wilson accompany Antoinette when she would visit her parents at the holidays and other get-togethers.
Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985, jslobodzian@phillynews.com,
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