Commonwealth v. B.M.

Police responded to a radio call for a group of men threatening to shoot police at a “violent drug corner” in Frankford. Police claimed that as their “caravan” of police cars approached the corner, B.M. began walking away and one of the officers noticed the handle of a firearm in his waistband. They allegedly stopped B.M. on the scene and recovered a fully loaded firearm from his person. B.M., who was on parole for mirder steadfastly maintained his innocence and claimed that police had in fact recovered a gun from a tire of a nearby car, and that the gun belonged to another individual who fled when police drove down the street. At trial after rejecting a plea deal for 5-10 years, the defense presented witnesses and picked apart the police testimony by confronting them with multiple violations of normal police protocol that cast doubt on their credibility.A jury returned a not guilty verdict after deliberating for less than an hour despite three police officers testifying they saw a gun in B.M.’s waistband.