NORRISTOWN — Saying lying to a grand jury will not be tolerated, a judge determined jail time was warranted for a Norristown woman who helped her boyfriend flee and hide out after he took part in the gunshot slaying of a Reading man on the Schuylkill River Trail and who lied to a grand jury about his whereabouts during the investigation.
“Miss Covelens, I cannot ignore what you did. People who help hide a murderer need to be called to task. You can’t lie to the grand jury,” Montgomery County Judge Thomas C. Branca said Wednesday as he sentenced Hailey Anne Covelens to 9 to 23 months in the county jail on charges of perjury and conspiracy to hinder apprehension in connection with helping her boyfriend, Cody Kavon Reed, hide out at various locations after his involvement in the slaying and later giving false testimony to a grand jury that investigated the homicide.
“The importance of the grand jury work cannot be underestimated. It is an instrument that helps bring the guilty to justice and free the innocent. It is of tremendous value to our system of justice,” added Branca, who has been the supervising judge of the grand jury.
Covelens, 21, of the 300 block of West Marshall Street, must report to the jail on Nov. 18 to begin serving the sentence. The judge also ordered her to complete three years of probation consecutive to parole, meaning she will be under court supervision for about five years.
Reed, 24, who lived with Covelens at the Norristown address, was sentenced earlier this year to life imprisonment, along with Marquise Alexander Johnson, 24, of East Johnson Street in Philadelphia, after a jury convicted them of first-degree murder in connection with the 9 p.m. March 2, 2023, gunshot slaying of Daquan Kennard Tucker, 25, of Reading, on the Schuylkill River Trail in West Norriton.
With her guilty plea to the charges, Covelens admitted that she conspired with Brianna Rose Radley, 22, Johnson’s girlfriend, to assist Reed and Johnson with their getaway after Tucker’s homicide.
In October, Radley, who listed addresses in Upper Gwynedd and Philadelphia, was sentenced by Branca to 9 to 23 months in the county jail on charges of perjury and conspiracy to hinder apprehension in connection with her role in the scheme to help Johnson hide out at various locations after his involvement in the slaying and later giving false testimony to a grand jury investigating the homicide.
“Both Radley and Covelens were vague, non-committal and at times lied during their grand jury testimony,” county Detective Heather Long wrote in a criminal complaint. “Radley and Covelens supplied transportation, monetary funds and housing to Johnson and Reed, which allowed them to hide without detection for over a month.”
Before learning her fate, Covelens, supported in court by nearly a dozen relatives and friends, appeared to apologize for her conduct, claiming she was “naïve” at the time she committed the crimes.
“I’ve been taking steps in my life to remove negative influences. I plan to keep moving forward in life,” Covelens said. “I’m truly a different person than I once was.”
As part of the sentence, the judge ordered Covelens to have no contact whatsoever with Reed.
Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Alane McLaughlin argued for the jail sentence for Covelens, arguing the oath to tell the truth to the grand jury meant nothing to Covelens.
“This was not a momentary lapse. This was a series of fully formed, conscious decisions that the defendant made. Her entire testimony was a lie. Everything was a lie. She literally laughed in the face of the grand jury and our justice system,” McLaughlin argued.
“This was an actual cover-up for Cody Reed to make sure he was not arrested by the police for murder,” McLaughlin added. “Every single day that they remained on the street after murdering Daquan Tucker, the community was in danger.”
The judge rejected defense lawyer Keith Harbison’s request for probation or house arrest for Covelens.
Harbison suggested Covelens’ conduct was fueled by “misplaced loyalty” to a boyfriend and he argued that incarcerating Covelens would hamper strides she has made to turn her life around, including maintaining two jobs.
“Taking her away from that would be a hardship to her. It’s just going to set her back,” Harbison argued. “She’s young. She sees the error of her ways.”
Covelens testified in front of the grand jury on March 15, 2023, and at the time, prosecutors alleged, she lied when she said she hadn’t had contact with Reed or Radley since March 5.
The investigation determined Covelens’ credit card was used to make food purchases in New Jersey, allegedly for Reed and Johnson while they were on the run.
Reed and Johnson fled from Norristown within two hours of Tucker’s March 2 slaying and remained on the lam until April 6, 2023, when they were apprehended in Atlantic City by members of the U.S. Marshals Service and local police at an Airbnb on North Rhode Island Avenue.
Detectives determined Radley rented the Airbnb in Atlantic City. A review of Radley’s Airbnb bookings also linked Radley to a March 6 rental in Stroudsburg, according to court documents.
It isn’t the first time that Covelens found herself in trouble with the law during her relationship with Reed.
Covelens, formerly of the 1100 block of Beechwood Avenue, Lansdale, previously served a sentence of 11½ to 23 months in jail, a maximum county jail term, after she pleaded guilty to charges of selling or transferring a firearm to an ineligible person, conspiracy and unsworn falsification to authorities in connection with a 2021 straw purchase scheme during which she purchased an assault rifle for Reed when he was prohibited by law from possessing a gun.
The assault rifle Covelens purchased for Reed was not linked to the eventual murder of Tucker.
In June, Reed and Johnson were convicted of homicide charges in connection with what prosecutors said was their agreement to lure Tucker to a desolate and secluded section of the Schuylkill River Trail to kill him. Prosecutors pointed to cellphone data and video surveillance footage that indicated the three men were walking in the area of West Main and Chain streets in Norristown at 8:39 p.m. March 2, 2023, toward the trail where Tucker was ultimately killed.
Cellphone and video surveillance evidence depicted Reed and Johnson later walking away from the area of the trail without Tucker but in possession of Tucker’s cell phone after he had been shot and killed.
The homicide investigation began at about 9:03 a.m. on March 3, when a citizen riding his bicycle along the Schuylkill River Trail on the border of Norristown and West Norriton called 911 to report seeing a body, subsequently identified as Tucker, in a wooded area between the trail and the Schuylkill River.
A motive for the killing was never disclosed.
Tucker, a Reading resident, had been staying with his girlfriend along Rogers Road in Lower Providence at the time of his death.
Source: Berkshire mont
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