Retrial begins for strip club manager accused of killing unruly patron
A Pennsauken man charged with killing a rowdy inebriated patron at a Southwest Philadelphia club went on trial Wednesday before a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury.
A Pennsauken man charged with killing a rowdy inebriated patron at a Southwest Philadelphia club went on trial Wednesday before a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury.
John Pettit, a manager at Oasis Gentlemen's Club, led a "muscle-bound team of bouncers who did whatever they wanted," Assistant District Attorney Mark Levenberg told the jury in his opening statement.
Levenberg said the evidence would show that Pettit knew he had a free hand to go after patron James Koons and his friend George Foreacre III on the afternoon of Oct. 16, 2009, because he knew there was bad blood between Koons and club owner Robert Laflar.
Levenberg said Pettit sucker-punched Koons, 31, in the forehead so hard that he cracked Koons' skull and drove bone a quarter-inch into the brain. Koons fell backward and broke the rear of his skull when he hit the asphalt parking lot of the club at 6800 Essington Ave.
Koons, the father of two, died Nov. 2, 2009, without regaining consciousness.
Defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. described Pettit, now 55, as the harried manager of a bar that was a "completely seedy, dangerous pig place."
The night before the confrontation with Koons, Peruto told the jury, Pettit was up until 2 a.m. with police after patrons got out of control and "decided to shoot the place up."
Pettit, however, felt trapped in the job, Peruto said. He said Pettit was "not the brightest guy in the world, but he had a $100,000-a-year job."
Peruto said Koons had previously been banned from Oasis because of misbehavior. He said Pettit had no idea his punch had killed the 6-foot, 255-pound Koons, and argued that Pettit should be acquitted of third-degree murder or convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Much of the first day of the trial was spent viewing surveillance video from inside and outside Oasis, after the incident purportedly began when Koons made a comment to Laflar's girlfriend, who went to Pettit.
The video shows Pettit punch Foreacre in the face and knock him off his stool. Later, Foreacre and Koons are seen being dragged out the front door by Pettit and other bouncers.
The exterior video did not show the assaults on Koons or Foreacre, which occurred behind Laflar's parked Hummer SUV. Foreacre is seen staggering out from behind the SUV with his shirt ripped off. Minutes later, the Hummer is moved and Koons' body is seen lying in the parking lot.
Pettit's first trial in 2012 ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a verdict on charges of murder, manslaughter, or conspiracy, but convicted him on several counts of tampering with evidence.
In July 2014, Pettit pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, but almost immediately regretted it. Contending he was misled by his lawyer, Pettit then hired Peruto and last November, after a series of hearings, was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.
Of the five people originally charged in Koons' death and the assault on Foreacre, Pettit is the last to face trial.
Laflar died of a drug overdose at age 46 in January 2012. Three Oasis bouncers were acquitted in a nonjury trial before another judge in October 2012.
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