The Superior Court of Pennsylvania has upheld the conviction of Beniah Griffin-Morgan on aggravated assault charges related to a 2021 shooting incident in Philadelphia. Griffin-Morgan argued that the evidence presented at trial was not sufficient to prove he was the shooter. However, the court disagreed, citing a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence that linked him to the crime.
The Incident and the Investigation
The case stems from a shooting on August 4, 2021, on East Lehigh Avenue in Philadelphia. The victim, Alexander Szabo, was shot in the chest but was able to walk to a hospital. He did not see who shot him.
Police found four 9mm fired cartridge casings and an iPhone with a black case at the scene. They also obtained surveillance video from nearby, showing two men wearing dark jackets walking toward the location of the shooting. The video then showed them removing their jackets and placing them on the ground. After the shooting, the same two men returned to pick up the jackets.
The iPhone and Social Media Evidence
A police detective found several Instagram messages on the abandoned iPhone. Further investigation revealed the phone belonged to Beniah Griffin-Morgan. Police also found two of his Instagram accounts, “30hotshells” and “dareaper2nd.”
On the “30 Hot Shells” account, police found a video posted about an hour before the shooting. In the video, Griffin-Morgan was sitting in a car, brandishing a handgun and wearing a black North Face jacket. The jacket matched the one worn by one of the men in the surveillance video.
Furthermore, police reviewed messages sent from the “30 Hot Shells” account on the day of the shooting. In one message, Griffin-Morgan told another user that he had dropped his phone at the scene after “a bang out.” He also sent other messages stating he “got into a shootout, lost [his] phone” and “[he] dropped [his] phone on the scene.” Griffin-Morgan used his “Da Reaper 2nd” Instagram account to send a message stating that he had dropped his phone on East Lehigh Ave. Later, on August 22, 2021, a new Instagram posting on the “30 Hot Shells” account showed Griffin-Morgan attempting to sell a 9mm automatic pistol.
Trial and Conviction
Griffin-Morgan was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, weapons offenses, and other related charges. At a non-jury trial, the trial court found him guilty of aggravated assault, three violations of the Uniform Firearms Act, possession of an instrument of crime, and recklessly endangering another person. He was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.
The Appeal: Insufficient Evidence
Griffin-Morgan appealed the conviction, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove he was the shooter. His lawyer argued that the evidence only placed him near the scene, not as a perpetrator.
The Court’s Decision: Evidence is Sufficient
The Superior Court reviewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. They cited the surveillance video, the matching jacket, the social media posts admitting to a shootout and losing his phone, and the attempt to sell a 9mm pistol. The court concluded that this evidence, both direct and circumstantial, allowed the trial court to reasonably determine that Griffin-Morgan was involved in the shooting. The court affirmed the judgment of sentence.
The court noted that Griffin-Morgan could be found guilty of aggravated assault even if the bullet that struck the victim was discharged from the weapon of a third party. Aggravated assault only requires that the defendant attempted to cause serious bodily injury or caused such injury intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. Griffin-Morgan’s participation in the shooting was sufficient.