LOCKPORT — Jury selection is underway in the trial of a Falls man charged in connection with a December 2022 murder.
Marchello Gildersleeve faces single counts of second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the death of Daniella Patterson. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors and Gildersleeve’s defense were able to seat five jurors on Monday. It’s expected they’ll complete the 12-person panel later today and opening statements in the case are expected to take place Wednesday morning.
Falls Police patrol officers responded to the emergency room of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center at around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2022, for a report of a female victim being brought there with a gunshot wound. Patterson, 35, was taken to the medical center in a private car and had suffered a gunshot wound to her back.
She was pronounced dead at the medical center a short time after her arrival.
Officers were able to locate the crime scene in the 400 block of Ninth Street and Crime Scene Unit detectives recovered evidence both there and from the car that transported Patterson to the hospital.
Investigators have said that they believe Gildersleeve was sitting in the back seat of that car, with Patterson in the front passenger-side seat when the shooting occurred. Neither police nor prosecutors have commented on what triggered the shooting.
Criminal Investigation Division (CID) detectives said they identified Gildersleeve as their prime suspect early on in their investigation of the murder. But the investigators said Gildersleeve fled the Falls and then became the subject of an intense manhunt in and around the Buffalo area.
He was taken into custody when Cheektowaga Police found him on train tracks in a restricted area in their town. The Cheektowaga officers said Gildersleeve gave them a fake name after being charged with a count of trespass.
After fingerprinting Gildersleeve, the officers said they discovered his true identity and that he was the subject of a murder warrant in the Falls. He was arraigned in Cheektowaga Town Court on his charge there and then turned over to Falls police.
Gildersleeve has been held without bail since that time.