Second man says Locker sought to be killed

A homeless East Harlem drug addict testified unapologetically Thursday that he conned Jeffrey Locker out of $4,000 in cash, two 4-inch knives and a gold bracelet after the Woodmere motivational speaker tried to recruit him into a bizarre suicide-by-hire plot in 2009.

"That was my intention, and that's what I did, and I'm not sorry about it," said Marvin Fleming, appearing at the Manhattan murder trial of Kenneth Minor, who is accused of stabbing Locker to death July 16, 2009.

Fleming added, "I didn't kill him. And that is the main thing I'm concerned with."

According to Fleming, Locker, 52, said he was in debt and wanted his killing to look like a robbery so that his family could be "taken care of" through millions in life insurance. A few hours after Fleming ran off with the money given him, prosecutors say, Locker got Minor to help fatally stab him in return for an ATM card.

Minor, 38, charged with second-degree murder, says it was assisted suicide.

Fleming was called as a witness by prosecutors, who told jurors in opening statements that his testimony would show that even a career criminal was not as cold-blooded as Minor.

Fleming, 55, said his strange encounter with the suicidal Long Islander he called "J" began in mid-July when he was panhandling outside a bodega and Locker gave him $5. Fleming offered to return the favor some day, and Locker invited him back to his car.

"He informed me that he was looking for someone to make him dead, to kill him," Fleming said. Locker gave him $1,000, his bracelet and the knives as a down payment. Fleming said Locker told him he could use the knives to kill him but Locker would prefer a gun.

"It's more quicker and a little painless," Fleming quoted Locker as saying. Locker proposed that Fleming approach him while he was kneeling to change a tire, hit him on the head and shoot him.

Two days after their first encounter, Fleming said, they met again. Locker gave him $3,000 more, and said he had another $10,000 on him and a brick of marijuana in his trunk that Fleming could take after the killing. Fleming said he told Locker he needed to leave to get the gun, but never returned.

Fleming twice suggested in his testimony that others may have known of Locker's suicide plan. The first came when he was asked if Locker, after saying he wanted to provide for his family, told Fleming "why he was doing this and about his life and his problems."

"He explained to me that they were aware that he was going to do this here, and they were in agreement," Fleming said. But he never identified who "they" were. The defense says e-mails indicate Locker's family may have known about his plan. A lawyer for the family did not return a call for comment.

Fleming also testified that at their second meeting, preparing for the killing, Locker called his wife and then his son to tell them he had a tire problem, and then made another call to tell a person - Fleming believed it was a friend - that "he found somebody to take care of what they didn't take care of for him."

The prosecution rested its case Thursday. Testimony will resume on Monday.