Lawyer David Manilla to be charged in death of hunter Barry Groh - READ AFFIDAVIT

Lehigh Valley Live.com ^ | Friday, December 17,2010 13:20EST | AP Staff

[brityank]

Lawyer David Manilla to be charged in death of hunter Barry Groh - READ AFFIDAVIT

Lawyer David Manilla is being charged today with involuntary manslaughter in the hunter's Nov. 29 death. He is due in court this afternoon on charges he killed 52-year-old Barry Groh, of Quakertown.

Bucks County prosecutors say Manilla led police to the body, but never mentioned shooting a high-powered rifle. Rifles are outlawed for hunting in Bucks County. Authorities also say Manilla was barred from possessing weapons because of his record, which includes felony assault and a 1994 hunting accident.
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Prosecutors released an affidavit today that details the events that they say led to the charges. It reads as follows:

[snip] Marino and Monestero arrived at the defendant’s property at 1155 California Road at approximately 11:30 AM. When Monestero and Marino arrived, they met with the defendant. Marino, Monestero and defendant Manilla began hunting on the defendant’s property within fifteen minutes of their arrival. Monestero stated that the defendant had both a shotgun and a rifle that day. Both Marino and Monestero stated that they knew that they were hunting in a “shotgun only” hunting zone, and that it was illegal to hunt with a rifle in that area. According to Monestero, the defendant said that he had the rifle because he “saw a wounded deer and would use the rifle to put the deer out of its misery” if he came across it. [/snip]

(Read it all!)

[brityank]

In Manilla's hunting party was his uncle, former Montgomery County district attorney Michael Marino. Authorities interviewed Manilla, Marino and a third member of the hunting party, Robert Monastero. Neither Marino nor Monastero is charged.

Seems to me that these other two slugs need to be incarcerated along with Manilla!

[brityank]

Ping to more on this dastardly murder!

[muawiyah]

Sounds like the proverbial "red necked hunting party" ~ but in PA?

Did they use proper German to tell the cops what happened, or was it that Americanized Platt Deutsch you hear all the time these days.

[brityank]

Looks as if Manilla's girlfriend could also be complicit:

Manilla told Fletcher to go to the farm to collect the rifle, and told her where she could find the rifle in one of the outbuildings. This rifle was not the weapon used by Manilla on November 29, 2010. Fletcher advised that the gun was hers, and that she was not aware that it was being kept at the Manilla Farm. Detectives also inspected a cache of 68 weapons (rifles and shotguns) that were stored in the attic of Fletcher’s residence. Fletcher was unable to identify eighteen of these rifles as belonging to her, advising that they were Manilla’s.

[muawiyah]

They’ll be digging up the yard pretty soon ~ and was her name Daisy?

[muawiyah]

Did you catch that thing about New York this evening? They had found 4 bodies along a road and were looking for more. HS.

[Lancey Howard]

Sounds like the proverbial "red necked hunting party" ~ but in PA?

Are you kidding? Remember, it was James Carville who described Pennsylvania as, "Philadelphia on one side, Pittsburgh on the other, and Alabama in between."

[brityank]

No, what happened? They let Shawcross out again?

[brityank]

LOL - That still puts us far above that bog-dwelling, beady-eyed, slime covered snake!

[nkycincinnatikid]

The perps names all sound like south Philly. The Dutch guy, well, he weren’t talkin.

[muawiyah]

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-14/justice/new.york.bodies_1_first-body-fire-island-suffolk-county-police?_s=PM:CRIME ~ This is the New York thing but it sounds kind of traditional even.

[Gondring]

Bucks County, Montgomery County...this is Philly suburbs more than the “T” of Pennsylvania. The victim was more of the rural type.

[Gondring]

At the time that the victim was discovered, his hunting vest, which contained an orange colored upper portion for hunter safety was hanging nearby on a bush on the bank of the creek closest to Manilla’s property. There was no bullet hole in the left arm area of this piece of clothing, and the clothing was dry, which indicates that the piece of clothing had been removed by the victim prior to him being shot. The victim’s bright orange hat was found on the bank of the creek closest to Manilla’s property in the area of the victim’s feet, suggesting that it had fallen off the victim’s head.

According to the victim’s son, his dad never removed his hat while in the field during a hunt.

Ping

[Gondring]

And it looks like the uncle (Michael Marino) started backpedaling fast, after initially helping to cover things up:

According to Marino, Manilla knew that the rifle was a prohibited hunting weapon. Marino reported that Manilla also fired a shot from his shotgun into the ground by the clubhouse prior to him calling 911. Marino also advised that he was aware that Manilla was a person not to possess a firearm because he had served as Manilla’s attorney in 1985 when Manilla was charged with attempted homicide, and was convicted of felony aggravated assault.

And is it just me, or does this paragraph confuse the issue by not mentioning the scope?

Detective Finor stated that in his training and experience when a rifle is utilized properly the “shooter’ must aim at their selected target by looking down the top of the weapon through the rear sight blade and lining up the front sight (at the tip of the barrel) in the center of the rear sight blade. The sights are then lined up on the target. Detective Finor stated that in his expert opinion this particular weapon, in the condition it was in at the time of his examination, could not be aimed properly or fired accurately utilizing the iron sights as David Manilla had previously described in his statement to Affiant Potts, since the rear sight blade was missing from the gun.

[Lancey Howard]

Yes, I live close to that area and it is definitely a “city suit meets rube” area. You have cul-de-sac subdivisions of new colonials mixed in with 60-year-old ranch houses with steel tractor barns in the back.

[Gondring]

I feel bad for Mr. Groh’s family....getting shot is bad enough, but by Philly lawyers? Ugh.

[seton89]

The Irishman’s Son

An aging man lived alone in Ireland. His only son was in Long Kesh
Prison, and he didn’t know anyone who would spade up his potato
garden.

The old man wrote to his son about it, and received this reply, “For
HEAVENS SAKE, don’t dig up that garden, that’s where I buried the
GUNS!!!!!”

At 4 A.M. the next morning, a dozen British soldiers showed up and dug
up the entire garden, but didn’t find any guns.

Confused, the man wrote to his son telling him what happened and
asking him what to do next.

His son’s reply was: “Just plant your potatoes.”

[fatima]

Boy did they try to cover this up.Thanks for the ping.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

After Manilla is convicted I hope the victim’s family sues him for everything he’s got.