PITTSBURGH (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - Four teenagers charged in a 2017 Hill District shooting that evidence shows they didn't commit have become an issue in the campaign for Allegheny County District Attorney.
Attorney Lisa Middleman, who is challenging D.A. Stephen Zappala, claims Zappala's office is incompetent for failing to research alibis that got the four released from jail last month. Two of the four had been imprisoned for 15 months.
"Putting the desire to win above the desire to pursue justice has actually left the true shooters in this case free and virtually immune from future prosecution", according to Middleman.
She says the case was botched by a shoddy investigation by an inexperienced city detective, a lack of review of evidence by district attorney investigators, and the D.A.'s decision to use a grand jury which kept evidence in the case secret.
Zappala responds it was defense attorneys for the four accused teens who early on failed to produce alibis that eventually got the four released.
"The buck stops with me, I get that, but those guys got a job to do too," according to Zappala.
The evidence that got them released included witnesses who vouched for their whereabouts, Lyft records, time-stamped photographs and records from a juvenile probation GPS monitor that showed one defendant never left his house at the time of the shooting.
Three children were wounded in the shooting in November of 2017, none seriously. There have been no new arrests.
___Follow KDKA Radio: Facebook | Twitter | InstagramListen to KDKA Radio on the Radio.com App - Download Now