Jury finds man charged in 2020 fatal shooting not guilty
The man charged in the 2020 shooting death of a 60-year-old Milwaukee man was found not guilty after a threeday jury trial.
The jury returned the verdict Wednesday as Arthur M. Kennedy, 34, was accused of first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Kennedy was first charged days after the April 19, 2020, shooting death of George Hadjinian on the 2800 block of North 12th Street.
The criminal complaint alleged Kennedy had been kicked out of a home on the block during a dispute with several people inside, and returned several hours later to throw two cinder blocks through a window and fire a gun several times.
Hadjinian was the driver of a vehicle that pulled into a nearby driveway around the time of the shooting, the complaint said.
Travis Schwantes, Kennedy’s attorney, said in an interview that a neighbor who lived down the street saw the shooter and her description of him did not match Kennedy.
“We presented that witness at the trial and I imagine that played a role in their deliberations and decisions,” Schwantes said. “This other neighbor, who didn’t have anything to do with any prior dispute with Mr. Kennedy, didn’t know Mr. Kennedy, didn’t know any of those other people at this house … said that she heard the gunshot. She looked out the window, she saw a man. She described the man. Mr. Kennedy had dreadlocks. This man did not have dreadlocks. He was wearing a durag on his head.”
He said three people had identified Kennedy to police as the shooter, and all three were involved with the dispute with him earlier in the day. Two of them did not show for the trial. The one that did, “didn’t remember anything,” he said.
He said Kennedy admitted to being part of the dispute and smashing a window, but never fired a gun.
“(The state) went with the people that had a beef with Mr. Kennedy instead of the independent person who just tried to do the best that she could,” Schwantes said.