Victim's Family Protests Judge's Ruling In McKees Rocks Shooting
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A protest was held outside the Allegheny County Jail Monday.
A judge ruled a teenage girl who is accused of first-degree murder will be allowed out of jail so she can attend high school. But the ruling didn't sit well with the victim's family.
A loud chant, posters held high and tee-shirts worn proudly, family members of Marshawn Ptomey hope someone was listening during the demonstration.
"He was a 19-year-old black male who was shot in the back of his head on May 26, 2012," said Sonya Smith, the Ptomey's sister.
Ptomey was found shot in the head in McKees Rocks. Police arrested 17-year-old Destiny Brown of Coraopolis. She is now facing charges in the shooting.
Now, a judge wants her released from jail on house arrest to go to school. The Ptomey family is outraged.
"We believe that she would be a threat to the school which she attends and the community being that she did shoot my brother in the back of the head while he was having a fair fight with another individual," said Smith.
Her attorney tells a different story, saying she was defending herself and there are pictures to prove it.
"Clearly, having a gun is not anything to condone, but I shudder at the thought of what would have happened in this case," said Milton Raifford, the defense attorney. "Otherwise, she would have been perhaps beaten to death."
Ptomey family members aren't buying that story.
"She claims it was self-defense," said Smith. "However, I don't believe you can be defending yourself when you shoot someone in the back of their head during a fight that had nothing to do with her at all."
The District Attorney's Office stands by the first-degree murder charges they filed against Brown.
Prosecutors argued before Judge Jeffrey Manning there is no way anyone charged with first-degree murder should be released from jail to go to high school.
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17-Year-Old Girl Headed To Trial In Fatal McKees Rocks Shooting (6/15/12)
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