Criminal Defense Attorney in Media, Pennsylvania Enrique Latoison Discusses the Richard Nicoletti Case

(0:20) We are going to talk about the Richard Nicoletti Case. The case in Philadelphia that just ended in a mistrial.
(0:30) Let’s go back to June of 2020, the world was on fire, George Floyd,
(0:40) everyone is arguing and fighting, protests, people are trying to make the world a better place, some people are trying to make the world a worse place.
(1:00) Richard Nicoletti was a SWAT team Philadelphia Police Officer.
(1:10) This took place on I-676, there were protests going on. During the protest there were officers that were on the highway, protesters on the highway,
(1:20) and the highway was shut down. There is an infamous video where you see Nicoletti going up to protesters, they are kneeling down, and he pepper-sprays them in the face.
(1:30) For a couple of them he removed their mask, and then he sprayed them right in the face. The mayor and chief of police
(1:40) got together, the district attorney’s office was upset. Charges were filed. And those charges were filed against Officer Nicoletti at the time
(1:50) saying he committed simple assault, reckless endangerment of another person, oppression, and possessing an instrument of crime. All misdemeanors.
(2:00) The officer indicated that this was his training. He also indicated at the time that he was protecting a state police officer that was trapped,
(2:10) on that highway and he was trying to get the protesters to disperse so they wouldn’t harm any officer.
(2:20) He gets charged and has a preliminary hearing, what takes place? Judge throws the case out. Judge says, based on the evidence, the officer was doing his training,
(2:30) he was doing what he was supposed to. Prosecution has the right to refile the charges, and they file a motion.
(2:40) Preliminary hearing took place May 2021, charges are dismissed, then in October 2021, they get reinstated. District Attorney’s office files a motion, the charges get reinstated.
(2:50) From Oct 2021 to May 2023 he is waiting to go to trial. This trial has been going on all last week.
(3:00) You typically pick 14 jurors.
(3:10) 12 that are going to be on the panel, and 2 that are extra. A couple of the jurors of the original 12 couldn’t make it or
(3:20) they had some personal reasons, that kicked in the alternates, which then got back to 12. 1 of them got dismissed for some sort of conduct,
(3:30) and then they got down to 11 jurors. When that happens,
(3:40) the judge will take a poll and say Prosecutor, Defense Attorney, we are down to 11, do you want to do with the 11 or do
(3:50) you want this case dismissed and start over? The parties chose to go with 11. The case ended in a hung jury.
(4:00) They were not able to come to a decision. It does not surprise me that this case ended in a hung jury.
(4:10) You are talking about a guy who had a preliminary hearing, was dismissed, then a different judge reinstated the charges, then you get to trial, have a jury trial, and no one can come to a decision.
(4:20) What I’ve come to find is this case is a big picture of what is going on in society. Either you think this officer did what he was supposed to do
(4:30) and that these protesters were a bunch of hoodlums, or you thought these protesters were exercising their right to free speech and that they were peacefully protesting
(4:40) and the officer is the bad guy. Nobody can agree on anything right now.
(4:50) So when you take a case like this and when you look at it from a society point of view, it’s not surprising that 11 people in this case were not able to come to a unanimous decision.
(5:00) Right now prosecutions says they are going to retry this case again.