Trial starts in Halloween shooting

Honey Brook man allegedly wounded WCU student with gunshot to torso

WEST CHESTER >> The trial of a Honey Brook man accused of wounding a West Chester University student by firing a shot through a closed garage door began Monday in Common Pleas Court.

Attorneys representing defendant James Maurice Cannavo Jr. are expected to assert a self-defense argument in the case, in which Cannavo is charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault, among other offenses.

Judge David S. Bortner will be overseeing the jury trial, which is expected to last through the week. He seated the jury of seven men and five women late in the afternoon, and instructed them to return to his courtroom at the Chester County Justice Center to hear opening statements from the two sides today.

The incident occurred at about 1:15 a.m. on Nov. 1, the morning after Halloween, when then-19-year-old Fletcher Grady, a student at the university, was on his way to a sorority party he and friends planned to attend. The group of five or more walked down Boxwood Alley, a block or so from campus, where a witness said they met up with other friends of Grady’s who told them they were not allowed to enter the party at a nearby

house on South High Street.

The witness said that Grady, who had been drinking, grew frustrated and angry at the news, and turned and banged with both hands on the door to a garage he had been standing in front of. He said he then heard something that sounded “like a door closing.” He and Grady began to walk away,

when Grady exclaimed that his side hurt and lifted up his shirt.

“I’ve been shot,” he told his friend, before collapsing on the pavement. A friend called 911.

When police arrived on the scene they found Grady lying on the ground, an obvious gunshot wound on his left side, just below his chest. He was alert but had been shot in the torso, the bullet hitting his small intestine and colon. He had to undergo surgery to remove

the bullet.

Police surveying the scene found what appeared to be a bullet hole in the steel door to the garage, about 46 inches from the ground and just to the right of the door knob. Inside, officers found a video monitor that showed activity outside the door, and that was hooked up to a DVR. They also found a quantity of illegal drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, as well as prescription drugs like Oxycodone.

(Bortner has ruled that the presence of the drugs will not be permitted at trial, permitting the self-defense claim.)

Police were able to interview the owner of the property, who told them he was renting it to Cannavo. The landlord, Brian Nelson, said that he had spoken with Cannavo the afternoon of Nov. 1 and that Cannavo had implicated himself in the shooting. Detective Lou DeShullo, one of the investigators in the case, quoted Nelson at a

preliminary hearing in the matter as saying Cannavo told him “two or three subjects had tried to kick in the door, and that he was scared to death and panicked.”

But the prosecution has alleged that because Cannavo had a security camera outside the garage, he could see what was happening. “He knew what was going on outside that door,” a prosecutor said at his preliminary hearing last year. “He knew what he was shooting at.”

Cannavo, 31, is a felon

with an extensive criminal record dating back to 2004 with convictions for firearms violations, felony assault, and intimidation of witnesses. He is represented by defense attorneys Evan Kelly and Marissa Ramsay of West Chester. The prosecution is led by the team of Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Harrar and Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Rice.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.