Philadelphia Prosecutor Irate Over Short Sentence In 2010 Triple Shooting
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia judge today imposed the minimum sentence on a man convicted of shooting and wounding a rival and two children -- brothers who were innocent bystanders playing on the sidewalk outside their Southwest Philadelphia home on a Saturday afternoon in September 2010.
Prosecutor Bill Davis sought the maximum sentence of 32½ to 65 years in prison for 26-year-old defendant Kevin Pickard, but Judge Lisette Shirdan-Harris (right) imposed the mandatory minimum sentence under the law: five to ten years in prison.
The two young victims, ages two and eight, were seriously injured, and the younger boy needed rehabilitation to help him learn how to walk again.
Davis says the sentence is outrageous and unacceptable.
"(It sends) the exact wrong message out to the most violent criminals in our city, that you can shoot our children and get the minimum sentence for that. And with all due respect to the court, I don't think it makes any sense, and I honestly don't understand it. And we will file a motion asking the judge to reconsider that sentence and protect our children with a sentence that keeps somebody like this off the streets," Davis told KYW Newsradio after the sentencing.
The defense attorney declined to comment.
Pickard was on probation for a drug offense at the time of the shooting.
