Victims, justice and the Delaware County D.A.
Kat Copeland has decided to go out with a bang.
The incumbent Republican Delaware County district attorney who lost her bid for a full term as the county’s top lawman now finds herself in a faceoff with the two top Democrats in the state.
Both Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman have been harshly critical of Copeland’s decision to get involved in a clemency case for a man who has been in prison since 1992 for his role in a deadly pharmacy holdup in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia.
Even though he was not the gunman, David Sheppard served
24 years behind bars for his role in the heist that ended with the fatal shooting of 64-year-old Thomas Brannan, the owner of Love’s Pharmacy.
Sheppard was one of a group of eight inmates - seven men and one woman - serving life sentences granted clemency by Gov. Wolf last week.
Not so fast, according to the Delco D.A.
It turns out that before he was involved in the fatal heist, Sheppard got picked up in Delaware County for shoplifting several pairs of jeans worth about
$300 from a now defunct store in Springfield. He made bail, but never showed up for his court appearance.
Now Copeland is holding Sheppard’s feet to the fire, filing a detainer against him and holding him behind bars to answer for the old shoplifting charge.
That is until yesterday, when a hearing was held in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.
Judge Anthony Scanlon released Sheppard on his own recognizance, but he will still have to face trial on the theft charge.
As you might imagine, Wolf and Fetterman were not amused by the hard-line stance adopted by Delaware County’s top prosecutor.
The governor ripped Copeland, calling her decision “wrong” and “misguided.”
“Mr. Sheppard has earned his freedom,” the governor said. “He has accepted responsibility, shown remorse, and served a quarter century in prison despite never taking a life. By law, he will spend a year in a Community Corrections Center then be under supervision for the rest of his life.
“The outgoing district attorney’s intentions are simply wrong and misguided. This cruel philosophy on criminal justice creates more problems than it solves.”
Fetterman soon followed suit. Both Democrats made a point of noting that voters just a few weeks ago rejected Copeland, electing Democrat Jack Stollsteimer, who will become the first elected Democratic D.A. in Delco history when he takes the oath in January
“Regardless, the voters of Delaware County chose a new leader and she should respect the will of the voters,” Wolf said of Copeland’s decision.
Fetterman, who has made the clemency issue his own personal crusade, was even more disturbed by Copeland’s stance. Her referred to the situation as “demoralizing.”
“It had been our hope that District Attorney Copeland’s earlier threat to arrest David Sheppard were simple political posturing in the wake of a failed re-election bid,” Fetterman said. “The jeans Sheppard allegedly stole in 1992 were recovered and the company went out of business shortly after, so there hasn’t been a complaining witness in more than 20 years.”
Fetterman, the hulking former mayor of Braddock who also has pushed for the legalization of recreation use of marijuana in the state, was not done.
“This egregious action is an alarming example of prosecutorial abuse of power,” he complained. “It’s also a disheartening disruption of what should have been the first morning of a new life for a Pennsylvania who has paid his debt to society.” Max Orenstein, the public defender representing Sheppard, had another word for the affair.
“I think it’s petty,” Orenstein said.
For her part, Copeland is having none of it.
In fact, she says her stance is not about the old shoplifting charge. This is about victims and victims’ rights, Copeland maintains.
The Delco D.A. is not amused that the family of shooting victim Brannan was never informed of the move to grant clemency to a man convicted in connection with his killing.
She blasted the “current climate of the criminal justice system: convicted felons are being empowered and extended leniency at the direct expense of victims and their families.”
“The issue here is not about a shoplifting charge, it is the complete failure of the criminal justice system to give victims and their families a voice,” Copeland said. “The family of the victim was never notified that this individual was appearing before the Board of Pardons and seeking to have his sentence commuted. Victims and their families deserve a role in the process, but in this case, the family was wrongfully denied that opportunity.
“The defendant and his codefendants were convicted of murdering a man execution style during the course of an armed robbery of a pharmacy. He filed numerous appeals, all of which were denied by the Courts. Sheppard then filed for commutation before the Board of Pardons, asking to be released from his mandatory life sentence. In his petition, he presented facts which were in dire opposition to those presented at trial showing he still failed to accept responsibility for his actions. Not once was the family of the victim notified about Sheppard’s pending motion by either the Board or the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office who prosecuted this case; the family never had the chance to voice their objection and let the Board know how this convicted murderer continued to affect their lives. As the family members are residents of Delaware County, when our Office found out that the Governor was reviewing the case, we contacted them to allow them to plea their case to the Governor. Apparently their pleas for justice were never heard.
“If the state is going to reduce or commute a convicted criminals’ prison sentence that was properly imposed by a jury or judge, then the state also needs to take into account the views of the victim and their families. Victims and the family members of victims deserve have their voices heard. Ultimately, the Board of Pardons may not agree with those views, but they at least need to take them into account. That did not happen in this case and it is wrong.
We concur with Copeland’s sentiment that the victim’s family should have been notified. But we wish she had picked another case to make her point.
Sheppard paid his debt to society for his role in the heist. And he will still have to face the music on that old theft charge. In addition, as part of his clemency, he will spend some time in a community corrections center and be under court supervision for the rest of his life.
But today he is a free man. It’s the right call.