MD Jury Clears Accused Murder-For-Hire Brothers

There is still no convicted trigger man in the 2009 death of Lemuel Wallace.

Wallace was a blind, developmentally disabled man who lived at a group home in Maryland. The murder-for-hire plot is said to have been orchestrated by a pastor who worked for a nonprofit organization that serves the developmentally disabled.

According to Reuters, the two men, brothers named Kareem Jamal Clea and James Omar Clea, were tried for the crime. They were found not guilty on September 7^th of conspiring to murder Wallace so his case worker could collect $1.4 million in life insurance policies.

Back in 2009, after his case worker, Kevin Pushia, took out several life insurance policies on him by posing as his relative, Wallace was picked up from his group home and shot dead in a bathroom at a nearby park.

Pushia later told police that he paid the Clea brothers more than $50,000 for the murder, using funds from his church. Both brothers were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, with Kareem Clea, 28, accused of being the shooter.

Most of the trial centered around the often conflicting testimony of Pushia, who pled guilty to organizing the murder and will face up to life in prison when he is sentenced next month.

Defense attorneys argued that Pushia framed the brothers and testified against them so he would look better in his own case.

Police were also criticized by the attorneys because they failed to fingerprint or analyze a soda can and a footprint that were found at the crime scene.

In her closing arguments, Robin Wherley, the prosecutor for the case, reminded the jury that two employees from the group home testified that they saw a man pick up Wallace just hours before his death. Both of those employees also failed to clearly identify Kareem Clea as that man when they were asked by the police and during their testimony.

Originally, the police arrested Pushia after an insurance company alerted them that his name was on Wallace’s life insurance policies.

After searching through Pushia’s Baltimore home, police found a day planner with “LW project complete” written in on February 4, 2009, which is the date of the murder.

Pushia eventually confessed that “LW” stood for Lemuel Wallace.