Client Not Guilty of Murder and Attempted Murder Charges Arising from Drug Robbery
The client and an accomplice had broken into an apartment to rob a drug dealer. Not long after they entered the apartment, a struggle ensued over a loaded handgun. Three occupants of the apartment were shot – one fatally. The client was charged with robbery, first degree murder, and attempted murder. Tyler MacDonald successfully challenged the credibility and plausibility of the narrative of one of the occupants who had been shot, and demonstrated how the ballistics evidence, blood spatter evidence, forensic pathology evidence, and surveillance video supported what the client testified to concerning the events inside the apartment. He submitted to the jury that the client was not guilty of murder or attempted murder, but guilty of manslaughter because he caused the death by the unintentionally discharging the firearm, and guilty of discharging a firearm with intent to wound because he shot one of the occupants in the leg without intending to kill him. The jury agreed, acquitting the client of murder and attempted murder, and finding the client guilty of manslaughter, and discharging a firearm with intent to wound, as well as the charge of robbery that the client had admitted to.