Teen Held For Trial In 2011 Homicide
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A teenager accused of fatally shooting a man in Hazelwood four years ago is going to trial.
Eric Addison is charged with criminal homicide. He was in court for a preliminary hearing Friday morning.
Addison is charged in connection with the killing of 27-year-old Jabbar Fridia in 2011. Addison was just 14-years-old at the time.
As she made her way through the Municipal Courts building on Friday, Montearl Patterson said, "It's been long enough. I'll be glad when it's over."
She was weary of the time it's taken to see movement in this case. Fridia, her son, was gunned down in Hazelwood three years ago this month. She's attended vigils hoping for justice.
While he drove his SUV in Hazelwood, he was shot in broad daylight, just before noon. The SUV ended up on its roof.
Last week, police arrested now Addison, 18, in connection with the murder. He was 14 when the shooting happened.
A protected witness testified she had a conversation with Addison, and he told her that he and two others planned to kill someone else that day. But when Fridia pulled up asking what they were doing, one of Addison's friends started firing, and that Addison, who was armed, tried to tell the gunman he was shooting at the wrong man.
Prosecutors argued there was enough evidence to hold Addison for trial on a homicide charge and District Judge Richard King agreed.
But Addison's lawyer argued there's no evidence his client fired and that he shouldn't be held for trial.
"I do not believe that he should have been held for charges," said defense attorney Richard Narvin. "We have evidence, in my opinion, is clearly insufficient to hold him into this case and I intend to continue further proceedings in the form of a writ of habeus corpus."
That is a motion that challenges the legality of Addison's detention, which Narvin is expected to file within the next few weeks.
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