Texas men sentenced for roles in assault, shooting

NORRISTOWN » Two Texas men, onetime friends working at area construction sites, learned their fates for their roles in the shooting and beating of a Norristown man they mistakenly believed sold fake drugs to them.

Michael Steven Lachney, 27, the shooter, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court Feb. 5 to 2 ½ to five years in a state prison, to be followed by five years’ probation, on charges of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, firearms not to be carried without a license, prohibited offensive weapons and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the 10:10 p.m. Feb. 4, 2017, shooting incident in the 200 block of Knox Street during which the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the foot.

“You just can’t come in and shoot guns at people,” Judge Garrett D. Page addressed Lachney. “You will have time to think about this.”

Meanwhile, Roger Avila, 21, Lachney’s alleged accomplice who beat the victim, was sentenced to one year already served to 23 months in the county jail, to be followed by two years’ probation, on charges of simple assault by physical menace and recklessly endangering another person. However, Avila won’t be released because U.S. immigration officials also have lodged a detainer against him and he will have to address unresolved immigration issues first, according to testimony.

A jury convicted the men of the charges during a trial last November.

With a mixed verdict, the jury acquitted Lachney of more serious charges of aggravated assault and acquitted Avila of aggravated assault and simple assault, causing bodily injury.

Assistant District Attorney Laura Bradbury argued for a lengthy state prison term against Lachney.

“This was an individual who went after someone he thought had sold him bad drugs. He was mistaken in his belief it was the victim in this case. He went after and targeted a completely innocent victim,” Bradbury argued. “Prior to going out and looking for the fight he made sure to arm himself with a gun. He went into this prepared for violence. He fired two shots at the victim as the victim was running away.”

Defense lawyer Robert G. Sellers argued for leniency on behalf of Lachney.

“Mr. Lachney did not set this in motion. He was reacting to a situation that scared him. He had just seen his friend get suckerpunched in the face twice. It wasn’t the right reaction,” Sellers argued, adding Lachney also suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder having grown-up in Honduras. “There’s a lot of gang violence in Honduras, a lot of crime, and that was one of the contributing factors to his PTSD. I think the PTSD played into it.”

During the trial, Bradbury alleged Lachney and Avila targeted the victim because they mistakenly believed he was the man who sold them fake drugs earlier in the evening. Bradbury said the victim “was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The victim testified he was walking home and was on the east side of Knox Street when he observed two males wearing dark clothing approach him from Rich Alley. Avila asked the victim, “Where is his money at?” and the victim told him he had no money, according to the criminal complaint and testimony.

“He could tell one of the males was concealing what he believed to be a gun,” Norristown Detective Louis Geiser wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding the victim believed he was about to be robbed.

The victim testified he punched Avila in the face and then ran north on Knox Street. The victim heard one shot as the two men chased him.

“He heard a second shot and he felt that he had been struck, which caused him to fall to the ground as he was shot in the back of his left foot,” Geiser alleged.

At trial, Sellers suggested Lachney acted in defense of his friend, Avila, when Avila was “sucker punched” by the victim and fired a shot to scare the victim but didn’t intend to shoot the victim.

Defense lawyer Pietro D’Angelo, who represented Avila, suggested Avila also acted in self-defense and that Avila should not be held responsible for Lachney’s conduct.

Avila testified he did not know that the victim was struck by gunfire.

But Bradbury argued Avila and Lachney were the aggressors. Bradbury argued Avila also was responsible for the shooting under accomplice liability theories.

The investigation began when Norristown police were dispatched to the 200 block of Knox Street for a report of a shooting and upon arrival found a man with a gunshot wound to his foot. Police found two .40-caliber bullet casings at the scene and also obtained surveillance video footage, which recorded part of the incident, from the nearby

America’s Best Value Inn, according to the arrest affidavit filed by Geiser.

The victim was transported to Paoli Hospital for treatment of his wound.

Following the gunfire, Lachney ran to the front parking lot of the Best Value Inn. Avila punched and kicked the victim several times while he lay on the ground before running to Lachney’s black pickup truck. Lachney and Avila then fled to Allentown. Avila and Lachney reportedly were working at construction jobs in the area and staying at the motel.

After reviewing the motel’s security camera footage, detectives developed Lachney and Avila as the suspects who left the area in the Nissan Frontier pickup truck with a Texas license plate, according to the criminal complaint.

A day later, borough police spotted the pickup truck and Lachney on the parking lot of the McDonald’s restaurant in the 200 block of West Main Street. Upon detaining Lachney police found him possessing a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and a .40-caliber magazine in his coat pockets, according to the criminal complaint. Police located Avila in the men’s room at the restaurant and he too was taken into custody.

When the men were interviewed by detectives, they both admitted to being involved in an altercation with another man and stated Lachney shot the victim, according to the arrest affidavit. Lachney and Avila said they bought what they believed to be cocaine from an unknown male while at the inn earlier that evening and soon learned that the unknown male had “provided them with salt instead of cocaine,” detectives alleged.

“Avila stated that they then walked around looking for the male that sold them the fake drugs,” Geiser alleged. “They observed (the victim) in the area and mistakenly believed him to be the male that sold them fake drugs. They confronted him and wanted to recover the money they had used in the drug deal.”