The Criminal Defense team at Kenny, Burns & McGill is pleased to announce that a client’s bail was successfully negotiated from $600,000 all the way down to just $100,000; a $500,000 decrease!
We’ll call our client Mr. Marco Gleason. In the span of just a few minutes, Mr. Gleason went from going about his life as usual to being caught up in a whirlwind of unlawful actions that landed him in the back of a police cruiser.
Mr. Gleason had been minding his business at home after a long day of work when he heard a sudden commotion outside. He looked out front and saw a small group of people gathered around his car; only when his engine turned over did he realize that they were carjackers, there to steal his vehicle!
Thinking quickly, Mr. Gleason grabbed his licensed firearm and ran outside, firing several shots at his own vehicle as it sped off down the street. Unable to prevent the theft, he went back inside and called the police to report his recently jacked car.
Unfortunately for Mr. Gleason, firing bullets at the back of a retreating car does constitute a crime in the state of Pennsylvania. When the police arrived and learned what had happened, he was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault and one count of attempted murder.
After being arraigned and saddled with a $600,000 bail, Mr. Gleason knew he needed to hire a knowledgeable gun crime lawyer; it was then that he contacted the attorneys at Kenny, Burns & McGill.
Criminal Defense Attorney Thomas D. Kenny has years of experience with cases involving both gun crimes and high bails. As soon as he was hired, Lawyer Tom Kenny got to work making this client’s case less of a nightmare for him.
Looking at the facts of the case, Gun Crime Attorney Kenny saw that his client could claim “imperfect self-defense.” Typically, claiming self-defense entails that a person used deadly force with the honest and reasonable belief that they were in harm’s way, and that the use of deadly force was necessary for self-preservation.
A self-defense claim becomes “imperfect” when the individual still honestly believes that they were in danger, but this belief is unreasonable given the details of the situation.
In Mr. Gleason’s case, his self-defense was imperfect because while he honestly believed that there was a threat, it was unreasonable for him to believe that he was actively in harm’s way — and therefore unreasonable for him to use deadly force — because the carjackers were fleeing the scene and not attacking in any way.
Armed with the facts of the case and deep knowledge of the law, Self-Defense Lawyer Kenny was able to negotiate with the Commonwealth that Mr. Gleason was not a dangerous criminal, but rather someone who had only been acting with the intention to protect himself and his property.
The Commonwealth agreed with Attorney Kenny’s logic and reduced Mr. Gleason’s bail by $500,000 — from the original bail of $600,000 to a new one of just $100,000. Due to Philadelphia’s bail laws, this means that Mr. Gleason only had come up with $10,000 to return home while awaiting, rather than spending those weeks or months sitting in a cell.
Kenny, Burns & McGill will continue fighting for this client’s best outcome for the duration of this case, and this bail decision is a great early win. If you or a loved one have gotten in trouble with the law, let us fight for you too; call Kenny, Burns & McGill today! (215) 423-5500
By
Kenny, Burns & McGill
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Published
May 4, 2023
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Posted in
Criminal Defense
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Tagged Bail Reduced, gun charges, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Self-Defense
