Shooting suspect declines to testify
A Norristown man on trial for shooting a Pottstown man has decided not take the stand in his defense.
NORRISTOWN » The injuries he sustained from three gunshots, allegedly at the hand of a Norristown man, could have killed a Pottstown man and he is fortunate to have survived the attack, a forensic pathologist told a jury.
“His condition was pretty tenuous. He had a bit of a stormy course. It did damage to his lung, diaphragm, his spleen and his bowel. He lost about 20 percent of his blood volume,” Dr. Ian Hood, an expert in forensic pathology, testified Friday in Montgomery County Court regarding the injuries suffered by Robert Pfanders during an attack at 2:40 p.m. Nov. 1, 2016 inside a mechanics garage in Pottstown.
Hood, who offered his opinions after reviewing Pfanders’ medical records, testified Pfanders suffered four bullet holes related to three bullets striking him. A gunshot to Pfanders’ back traveled through his diaphragm, destroyed his spleen and damaged his colon.
“I see people die from that type of wound. He probably had a fifty-fifty chance of making it after that first day,” Hood testified for Assistant District Attorney Samantha L. Thompson, adding Pfanders also suffered gunshot wounds to the left forearm and left thigh and is “fortunate” to have survived the attack.
Pfanders, testimony revealed, was transported to a local trauma center and underwent multiple surgeries during which his spleen was removed.
The jury of six men and six women appeared riveted to Hood’s testimony at the trial of alleged shooter Bobby Brown, of Norristown.
Brown, 41, of the first block of Lincoln Drive, faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated and simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, firearms not to be carried without a license and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the shooting inside a garage located at the rear of a residence in the first block of King Street in Pottstown.
Brown showed no emotion as the extent of Pfanders’ injuries was described for the jury.
Pfanders positively identified Brown as the man who shot him and even showed the jury some of the lasting effects of his wounds when he testified on Friday.
Brown, who is represented by defense lawyer Scott C. McIntosh, opted not to testify at the trial but offered the testimony of character witnesses, two aunts and a family friend who testified he has a reputation in the community for being peaceful and non-violent.
The jury is expected to hear the closing statements of the lawyers and receive legal instructions from Judge Richard P. Haaz on Monday before beginning deliberations.
Brown, who remains in the county jail in lieu of $250,000 cash bail pending trial, faces decades in prison if convicted of the charges.
During the trial, Thompson alleged Brown shot Pfanders with the intent to kill him as they argued over the ownership of a motorcycle inside the garage where Pfanders was working. Prosecutors alleged Brown was angry when he came to the garage that day and suspected the motorcycle in the garage belonged to him. Testimony revealed the motorcycle was not registered to Brown.
But McIntosh has argued to the jury that there is no DNA evidence, no video surveillance footage of the shooting and that a weapon was never found, nor linked to Brown. McIntosh suggested an eyewitness’s account of the shooting and his identification of Brown as the shooter also can’t be trusted because the eyewitness, who was working in the garage with Pfanders, was under the influence of drugs at the time of the shooting.
McIntosh implied authorities arrested the wrong person.
Pottstown Detective Thomas Leahan testified he, along with other officers, responded to the garage for the reported shooting.
“I noticed he was shot on his left side. He was in agony, in pain,” said Leahan, referring to Pfanders who was found lying on the garage floor.
Leahan testified that when he asked Pfanders who shot him, Pfanders replied, “Bobby Brown! Bobby Brown from Norristown.” Leahan testified the extent of Pfanders’s injuries prevented detectives from interviewing him for several days but when they did Pfanders, when shown a photo array, identified Brown as his shooter.
Additionally, Pottstown Detective Mark Wickersham testified an eyewitness to the shooting, Terry Presgrave, who was also working at the shop, identified Brown in a photo array as the shooter.