Dog-poop homicide case goes to jury

A PHILADELPHIA jury on Friday will begin deliberating the fate of a Tacony man who pumped several bullets into a neighbor who had complained about the man letting his dogs poop on his lawn.

A Common Pleas jury heard closing arguments Thursday and now must decide if what Tyrirk Harris did to Franklin Manuel Santana last Feb. 14 was murder, manslaughter or self-defense.

Harris, 28, who is being held without bail, testified that Santana, 47, knocked on his front door, on Torresdale Avenue near Magee, and threatened him over his two dogs - a Chihuahua and a German shepherd.

Harris, appearing calm and collected during his testimony, said that after Santana tried to pull him out of his house, he drew his gun and fired the 9mm Smith & Wesson at Santana in self-defense.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Watson-Stokes, in her closing argument, said that Harris committed first-degree murder by shooting an unarmed man who never touched him or his gun and who merely wanted to have a discussion about Harris' not cleaning up after his pets.

"Have we fallen so far as humans, as a society, as citizens of Philadelphia County," Watson-Stokes thundered, "that it is acceptable to take a life over dog shit? It is never acceptable!"

She said that Santana's fingerprints were not found on the gun and that Harris could not claim self-defense because he had initiated the deadly violence.

The shots included one bullet that hit Santana in the face, breaking his jaw as it exited his neck, she said, and four bullets that entered his back.

"You cannot be defending yourself and shoot a person seven times, most importantly, to the back," the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney James Berardinelli said that Harris is not guilty because he acted under the state's Castle Doctrine, a law that gives an individual the right to use deadly force in self-protection.