The Self-Defense Group-Home Shooting

The client was employed as a group-home healthcare worker. He was scheduled to work the third shift. He arrived for his shift a little late. The moment he arrived to begin his shift, the coworker that he was scheduled to relieve began yelling at him. The defendant left the residence to get away from his coworker, but the latter followed him out. The defendant went to his car to smoke a cigarette to try to calm down. The coworker approached the vehicle and continued the argument. The defendant retrieved his lawfully possessed and properly licensed firearm from his vehicle and shot the unarmed coworker twice in the chest. The defendant made the gun safe, put it on the trunk of the car and called the police. He was arrested and charged with murder. The defendant gave a full recorded statement to the police while he was custody.

The Commonwealth offered a plea to 3rd degree murder with a sentence of 20-40 years of incarceration. The defendant rejected the offer and invoked his right to a jury trial.

In preparation for trial, Attorney Sontz and his investigator travelled all over Washington and Allegheny Counties looking for character witnesses to testify to both the defendant’s reputation for being a peaceful person, and the decedent’s reputation for being a violent person. Attorney Sontz and his investigator were able to locate a young woman who was the daughter of the decedent’s ex-girlfriend. Though she had absolutely nothing to gain by coming to court, she was willing to testify to the decedent’s propensity for violence, which included a violent assault by the decedent that left her mother in bloody pool on the kitchen floor that required an ambulance to bring her to the hospital. The defense presented a parade of witnesses who testified to the defendant’s peaceful and law abiding character.

Over the course of the trial, Attorney Sontz identified significant errors committed by the police and the forensic pathologist during their investigation. These errors, along with the substantial character witness testimony led the jury to return a verdict of NOT GUILTY on all counts. Instead of serving a 20-40 year sentence, the defendant walked out of the courtroom a free man.