ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff photographer
Brian Hall celebrates verdict outside Criminal Justice Center.
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3 men shown being beaten by cops on TV tape are cleared in shooting
A city courtroom erupted into applause and shouts of "Yeah!" yesterday after a jury acquitted three men of attempted murder and related offenses in a triple shooting in Feltonville in May 2008.
During their arrest the night of the incident, the three were captured on videotape being beaten by police. The jury watched the tape of officers beating and kicking the men.
After the verdict was read, Brian Hall, 24, the only one of the three who had posted bail and was not in custody, ran from the courtroom packed with defendants' family members, and yelled: "Thank the Lord! Praise God!" He kept running until he left the Criminal Justice Center.
Earlier, Common Pleas Judge Ramy I. Djerassi had dismissed the jury of seven women and five men from the courtroom.
Speaking with reporters afterward, four jurors said that they found the statements of a narcotics police officer - the prosecution's key witness - inconsistent.
They also said that their verdicts had not been influenced by the fact that the defendants were beaten by police about 25 minutes after the shooting, as captured on videotape by a Fox 29 news helicopter.
Authorities had contended that Pete Hopkins, 20; Dwayne Dyches, 26; and Hall drove to 4th and Annsbury streets at about 10 p.m. May 5, 2008, and that moments afterward Hopkins fired at four men on the northwest corner, injuring three, as Dyches and Hall stood nearby.
The three then allegedly fled in their tan Grand Marquis, and led police on a 2 1/2-mile pursuit before they stopped at 2nd and Pike streets, where they were dragged from their car and beaten and kicked by police.
Mary T. Maran, Hopkins' attorney, attacked the testimony and statements of key prosecution witness, Officer Carlos Buitrago, during her closing argument Tuesday. She contended that Buitrago, who said that he was hiding in an unmarked car on the southeast corner of 4th and Annsbury while on narcotics surveillance, did not actually see the shooter.
She also played a radio call that Buitrago had put out after the shooting, in which he said that two males who "were probably shooting" went east on Raymond Street. She contended that it conflicted with other statements he gave.
A 38-year-old female juror said afterward of Buitrago's testimony: "Not that we didn't believe him. His story kept changing. . . . It was just inconsistent all over."
A 19-year-old female juror, a student, simply said: "No evidence."
Two other jurors were asked who they thought had committed the shooting that night.
"Another person," a 28-year-old man said, noting that police gave conflicting statements about how many people had gotten out of the car, and where the shooter had fled.
"No idea," the forewoman, a 34-year-old educator, replied.
"We didn't have clear evidence," she said. "It came down to eyewitness testimony."
She also said that "no scientific evidence" linked Hopkins to the gun that later was recovered.
Jurors deliberated for about 4 1/2 hours over two days.
Hopkins wept when the acquittals were read.
Dyches nodded his head in agreement.
Hall's mother, her hands clasped to her face as if in prayer, cried as her son shook attorney Evan Hughes' hand.
Police Lt. Brad Christy, of Internal Affairs, had testified during the trial that four officers were fired after the Fox 29 videotape was reviewed. He said that he believed that eight others were disciplined.
Attorneys for the defendants - Maran; Hughes; and Dyches' attorney, Robert Gamburg - said after the verdicts that their clients were considering whether to sue police over the beatings.
The attorneys contended that police wanted convictions against the three to justify the beatings.
"We're very happy with the jury's verdict," Gamburg said outside the Criminal Justice Center, as the defendants' family members hugged each other and thanked the attorneys.
Hopkins' father, Pete Hopkins Sr., 41, said: "The citizens made the outcome of this case! Not the commonwealth, not the judge. The citizens of Philadelphia!"
Wanda Dyches, Dyches' aunt, shouted: "God is good!"
Dyches' grandfather, Whaley Dyches, exclaimed: "I'm happy, very happy. Everybody happy."
Not everyone was happy. Police officers who were in the courtroom during the verdicts appeared glum. Assistant District Attorney Carol Meehan Sweeney said afterward: "While we respect the jury system, based upon the evidence presented, I'm very disappointed in the verdict."
Sweeney contended in her closing argument that Buitrago's testimony and statements were consistent. On May 30, 2008, police found the gun that fired the 15 bullet casings at the shooting scene in a weedy lot near 2nd Street and Rising Sun Avenue.
Jurors, however, did not consider the gun evidence to be compelling. "It shouldn't have taken 25 days" to find the gun, the 38-year-old woman said.
She said that she was also bothered that no DNA evidence was recovered from the gun.
The 19-year-old woman contended that the recovery of the gun, despite it being found on the path of the vehicle pursuit, "didn't make sense."
Hopkins was expected to be released from custody after yesterday's acquittals, his father said. Bob Eskind, a county prison spokesman, confirmed that no reason exists to detain Hopkins.
Gamburg said that Dyches has a detainer for a violation of probation, but said that he would ask a judge for his client's release.
