Commonwealth v. S.C.

S.C. and a friend were walking home late at night when two Philadelphia police officers spotted them, and because of their youthful appearance, thought they may have been in curfew violation. The officers claimed that after they got out of their car, both S.C and his friend fled on foot and that S.C. discarded a gun. The gun was recovered and S.C. was apprehended about a block away. The other individual was also stopped.

At trial, top Philly criminal defense lawyer, Mr. Link produced screenshots from S.C.’s phone that showed he was in the middle of a 30 minute facetime chat with his girlfriend. S.C.’s girlfriend testified that the chat was ongoing during the chase and that S.C. told her he thought the police were going to kill him. She told him to get down and surrender, which S.C. did. She then heard one of the officers state “One of y’all are going down for that gun.”

The defense also cross-examined the arresting officer on his relationship with the mother of the other male who was stopped, and the defense argued that the officer was very evasive in answering those questions under oath. The defense argued that due to the lighting conditions and the locations of the alleged observations, the officers had no idea which one of the two threw the gun, and that they put the Philadelphia gun possession charge on S.C. because the officers didn’t know his mother like they did with the other male who was stopped. S.C., who had his acceptance to the Air Force at stake, was found not guilty.