Commonwealth v. D.B

Philadelphia Police responded to a radio call for a “person with a gun” at 52nd and Arch Streets. Upon arrival they located a victim on the street suffering from multiple gunshot woulds to the chest and legs, and we was subsequently pronounced dead. Detectives obtained video footage of the incident, which depicted D.B. spitting on the ground minutes before he was observed shooting the decedent. The saliva was analyzed and matched the DNA profile of D.B. D.B. was also identified as the shooter by several police officers who watched the video. The video showed D.B. retrieve a gun from a female seconds before the decedent walked across the street with his hand in the pocket. It appeared on the video that a verbal dispute occurred resulting in D.B. firing 6 shots at the decedent. The defense rejected an “offer” of 27-54 years in jail and elected to proceed to trial. At trial, the defense argued that the shooting was a justifiable killing under the self-defense doctrine introduced evidence of a violent dispute between individuals at 52nd and Arch and 52nd and Marker, as well as decedent’s affiliation with 52nd and Market. The defense elicited further evidence that decedent had shot at D.B. several weeks prior, and highlighted the demeanor of the decedent in the video, including the fact that he kept his hand in his right pocket during incident and threatened to kill D.B. seconds before D.B. fired shots. Although no gun was found by police, video showed a large crowd around the decedent for several minutes before police arrived and argued that one of them likely took the decedent’s firearm. D.B. was found not guilty of all charges and released from custody back to his family that day.