PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A judge has dismissed the case against former Philadelphia police officer Ryan Pownall, who was charged with the murder of David Jones, a Black man, in 2017.
Following testimony from the former prosecutor who handled the original investigating grand jury, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas judge Barbara McDermott said Tuesday that District Attorney Larry Krasner's office didn’t properly instruct jurors on the charges of murder or manslaughter, among other legal terms.
As of now, Pownall faces no charges.
In 2017, Pownall fatally shot Jones twice in the back during a traffic stop in North Philadelphia.
Police said Pownall was transporting a victim to the special victims unit when he saw Jones riding a dirtbike on a city street. Jones’ bike had stalled and he pulled into the parking lot of a night club. Pownall also pulled into the lot, and when he frisked Jones, he said he felt a gun.
Police officials have said that Pownall tried to shoot Jones during the struggle, but that his gun jammed. Jones threw his gun down and fled, and Pownall fired at him, shooting him in the back and killing him.
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The Police Department fired Pownall, who was then charged with murder in September of 2018.
The grand jury that recommended those charges is the one at the center of the dismissal.
The former prosecutor who oversaw the investigating grand jury testified Tuesday that she printed out the legal definitions of murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter and left them on a table while the grand jury deliberated on whether to recommend charges.
The defense had argued the prosecutor never read out the charges, and did not define malice, which is the line between murder and manslaughter. They said prosecutors also never advised the jury on rule 508, which is the “justified use of force” statute.
Read the full text of statue 508 below.
STATUTE: § 508. Use of force in law enforcement.
(a) Peace officer’s use of force in making arrest.–
(1) A peace officer, or any person whom he has summoned or directed to assist him, need not retreat or desist from efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in the use of any force which he believes to be necessary to effect the arrest and of any force which he believes to be necessary to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making the arrest. However, he is justified in using deadly force only when he believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or such other person, or when he believes both that:
(i) such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape; and
(ii) the person to be arrested has committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay.
(2) A peace officer making an arrest pursuant to an invalid warrant is justified in the use of any force which he would be justified in using if the warrant were valid, unless he knows that the warrant is invalid.
According to court documents, it took the jury 12 minutes to decide.
In any grand jury, prosecutors have total control over what the grand jury sees and hears.
McDermott sided with the defense and said to the District Attorneys that “use of force” law may be antiquated, but it is still state law and that they didn’t follow the rules on how to instruct a grand jury. She then dismissed the grand jury presentment.
In August, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania sided with Pownall, saying that he could use the justifiable-shooting defense, and that the district attorney could not change the law.
"The presentment was not based on sufficient proper evidence. They manipulated the grand jury system by keeping certain statutes from them," said Pownall’s attorney, Fred Perri, arguing this was a violation of their client's due-process rights.
"From our perspective, this has been a travesty of justice. They have ruined this young man’s life by the manipulation of the grand jury process and the system."
Prosecutors, who did not comment on the case as they left the courthouse, can re-arrest Pownall.
The District Attorney’s Office released a statement after the judge made her ruling, saying, in part, that they "strongly disagree ... on many levels with the court’s decision today in this matter, and will be reviewing our options in the coming days."
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 President John McNesby called the charges “meritless” and said the entire case is an illustration of what he called District Attorney Larry Krasner’s “anti-police agenda.”
Pownall was a 12-year Police Department veteran, McNesby said.
“We promised a vigorous defense against all the charges and happy to see that all criminal charges were dismissed and we now begin the work to get Ryan Pownall re-instated to his job, protecting our great city,” he said.
Asa Khalif, an activist who protested for charges against Pownall, said he was in touch with the family of David Jones after the decision Tuesday. He said they were blindsided by the news and are feeling "alone and abandoned."
“No one contacted them from the District Attorney's Office,” said Khalif, who said Jones’ stepmother is still waiting for the call.
“They are demanding for the District Attorney to recharge this man.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.