Gun Crime Defense Lawyer in Media PA Enrique Latoison Commentary on South Street Mass Shooting

Video Transcript

Tips have been coming in, but police say they want to know more about what witnesses saw and heard that night. They are asking people to come forward and report what they know. And as we comb through the information that police are giving us, we have so many questions about who’s being charged here and why. And joining me now is NBC10’s legal analyst Enrique L1 Latoison to help us understand all this. Enrique, thanks for being here tonight. I know you’ve seen the videos that police say show a wounded Micah Towns firing multiple shots back at Gregory Jackson as Jackson ran away. So Towns is on the ground. They’re in the middle of the street. He’s been injured. He’s been wounded by gunfire. Is the self-defense argument then justified?

Well, these things change as things go on. I mean, right now the police have been very clear that they are still investigating. Mr. Towns right now is in critical condition and still in the hospital. They might not have even had a chance to speak with them. But as they still gather more evidence and witnesses, charges change, charges get reduced, charges get added. I will say that he’s on the ground and if he can reasonably believe that he was defending his life because he was in fear of serious bodily injury or harm because at that point he wasn’t able to kind of getaway. And if he thought that Mr. Jackson was going to turn around and continue shooting at him, he would be justified in self-defense. But these things change as things go on. As more information comes out, decisions are made.

Help us understand, Enrique, when does self-defense, in fact, become reckless? Because we know there are many people on the street on South Street Saturday night. If it in fact turned out that Mica Town’s shots caused the other gunfire and subsequent death of two innocent people, could Towns later be charged perhaps with something including homicide?

So this is very complicated. You have the thinking in criminal law of what was foreseeable. You have transferred intent, which means I was shooting at someone and accidentally shot someone else. You have the thing with the guy with Gregory Jackson who started the fight, who was involved with that, that started the whole shooting to begin with. The only thing is if you’re shooting in defense of yourself and you are so reckless that you harm others, you can be charged with voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. So once again, it becomes very complicated. What did you know at the time of what you were doing and what exactly is it that you were trying to do to defend yourself? And was your behavior so reckless that you caused the death of others while at the same time trying to defend yourself?

Final question here, Enrique. Why is Rashan Verin, in your view, the man police say involved in that fist fight but isn’t the one they believe shot Micah Towns. Why is he now charged with attempted murder?

Well, okay, so once again these charges could change. He can’t be charged with murder. He can be charged with murder for what happened to Jackson. He’s part of the initial dust-up that takes place when Mr. Jackson and him start to walk towards Mr. Towns. Mr. Jackson already has the firearm out so at that point you are a co-conspirator you’re in cahoots with the person to then inflict serious bodily injury upon Mr. Towns. So at this point, it’s attempted homicide but it could change to homicide or it could be downgraded when they get all the investigation done. We don’t know what was being said between the two parties before this event took place.

All right, Enrique L1 Latosion NBC10 legal analyst. We thank you for your insights. A lot of moving parts here and as you said there’s could change as police are still looking for those other persons of interest.

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