Published: May 09, 2008 08:17 pm            

COURTS: Osborne asks for separate trial

Accused killer says his “interests” are different than his co-defendant

Paul “Young Money” Osborne will have to wait a while to find out if he’ll stand trial for the murder of Donald Paige alone, or with his co-defendant Brandon “RATT” Dennis.

Niagara County Court Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza reserved decision on a motion by Osborne’s attorney to sever his trial from Dennis’ on the grounds that there are conflicts in the interests.

“There are statements by a police informant (allegedly made by Dennis) that may be incriminating to my client,” public defender Matthew Pynn told Sperrazza.

He also told the judge his strategy at trial would be “antagonistic” with the strategy of Dennis’ defense counsel. Pynn said separate trials was the only way to resolve the conflict.

“If one defendant is going to say, ‘I didn’t do it, but he did.’ and the other defendant (does the same), bad things can happen,” Pynn said.

Assistant District Attorney Doreen Hoffman said the informant should present no problem for Osborne’s defense.

“They didn’t file a motion with sufficient legal basis,” Hoffman said.

The veteran prosecutor also said there was no good reason to make witnesses testify twice in the case.

Osborne, 21, No. 10 Seventh St., Apt. 421, Buffalo, faces two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree robbery in the August slaying of Donald Paige in the driveway of his 21st Street home.

Dennis, 21, of various addresses, who also uses the name James Funderburk, is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He also faces drug possession charges in Buffalo, because he had a quantity of crack cocaine in his possession when he was arrested by members of the Western New York Violent Felony Warrant Task Force in March, after almost seven months on the run.

Paige, 24, 2320 21st St., was ambushed Aug. 23 by two men and then shot and killed during a struggle with his assailants. His sister was also wounded in the attack.

Investigators said Paige and a friend had just returned from shopping and getting Paige’s SUV washed, when Osborne and Dennis showed up. Paige had gone inside the home while his friend remained in the vehicle in the driveway.

Detectives believe Osborne and Dennis got into the back seat of Paige’s SUV, armed with a MAC-10 and a semi-automatic handgun, and then robbed Paige’s friend of some cash, his ring and a cell phone.

After hitting the friend in the head with the MAC-10, Osborne and Dennis then got out of the vehicle and confronted Paige.

“Both the (gun)men got out of the car and they trapped Paige between the car and the house, which is a space of about 3 feet,” Falls Detective Capt. Ernest Palmer said at the time. “A struggle ensued and that commotion brought other people out of the house.”

The struggle also left Osborne’s fingerprints on Paige’s freshly washed SUV.

“Because the car had just been washed, we were able to pull those prints off the car and they were fresh prints,” Palmer said.

Investigators, who had been struggling to find leads in the case, were able to match the fingerprints taken from Paige’s SUV with Osborne’s prints in a criminal records data base.

Osborne admitted to police that he knew Paige and had some “drug dealings” with him, but denied killing him. Asked by detectives if he knew that Paige had been killed, Osborne replied, “No. Yeah, my dad told me.”

When investigators asked him if he knew anything about the slaying, Osborne responded, “I didn’t kill Donald Paige.”

After being charged with murder, Osborne told detectives, “I didn’t kill nobody. I know Little Donnie (Paige), but I was not on that scene. A lot of people in Buffalo know Donnie. You did not get my prints. I was not there. I buy weed off of Donnie.”

Osborne has been described by law enforcement sources as a “player” in the local drug trade.

        

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