DA Drops Murder Charge in Schellenger Case (Avalon, Newtown: place to live, legal)

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

I think I said it before, this was a avoidable situation and the outcome reflects the character of both individuals. 2 bad guys had a chance meeting in the middle of the night, and one idiot ended up in the morgue while the other idiot will end up in jail.

There is no good guy vs bad guy in this ugly situation.

How exactly is the decedent a ''bad guy'' in this ugly situation? The middle of the night? 11 pm on a busy July Thursday night in Rittenhouse Square? Remember, Schellenger was in a situation with a motorist in a traffic jam; this wasn't some desolate middle of the night encounter between White and Schellenger. There was a traffic jam on 17ht street, that's how busy the area was when this happened.

The situation was avoidable by Michael White; he had nothing to do with whatever was going on with Schellenger and a 3rd party motorist. White inserted himself into this situation and pulled a Rambo knife on Schellenger. Schellenger moved on White to defend himself; White has to insert ''racial'' epithat and some cheesy line that Schellenger was going to ''beat the black off him''. Really? No one heard any of this but White in a then busy night in the city.

Where exactly is this ''chance meeting''?

White got involved because Schellenger was white and was having ''words'' with a black motorist as White rode by on his bike carrying an illegally concealed 7'' Rambo knife.

This is Krasner's biased justice. Get used to it Philly.

Hope no one pulls a knife out on you for no reason and you try to defend yourself in one these ''chance meetings'' in the ''middle of the night''.

I just don't see your victim blaming here being an issue at all yet for some reason you do it by downplaying the facts and making generalizations.

As Schellenger's family said, let the 3rd degree murder charge be decided by a jury.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

For murder, the DA has to prove there was prior intent to kill. Like say, he stabbed directly into the heart. I also think the conviction has to be a unanimous decision by the jury. IMHO, murder would have been a defective charge.

So, stabbing a 7'' Rambo knife full-hilt into someone's back isn't a prior intent to kill, at least given your scenario here? It has to be in the heart? This is bizarre reasoning.

[1ondoner]

You remind me of this lady on TV who lost her jailbird adult son to gang violence vehemently defending their son as an angel. Knock yourself out

Originally Posted by Kamms

How exactly is the decedent a ''bad guy'' in this ugly situation? The middle of the night? 11 pm on a busy July Thursday night in Rittenhouse Square? Remember, Schellenger was in a situation with a motorist in a traffic jam; this wasn't some desolate middle of the night encounter between White and Schellenger. There was a traffic jam on 17ht street, that's how busy the area was when this happened.

The situation was avoidable by Michael White; he had nothing to do with whatever was going on with Schellenger and a 3rd party motorist. White inserted himself into this situation and pulled a Rambo knife on Schellenger. Schellenger moved on White to defend himself; White has to insert ''racial'' epithat and some cheesy line that Schellenger was going to ''beat the black off him''. Really? No one heard any of this but White in a then busy night in the city.

Where exactly is this ''chance meeting''?

White got involved because Schellenger was white and was having ''words'' with a black motorist as White rode by on his bike carrying an illegally concealed 7'' Rambo knife.

This is Krasner's biased justice. Get used to it Philly.

Hope no one pulls a knife out on you for no reason and you try to defend yourself in one these ''chance meetings'' in the ''middle of the night''.

I just don't see your victim blaming here being an issue at all yet for some reason you do it by downplaying the facts and making generalizations.

As Schellenger's family said, let the 3rd degree murder charge be decided by a jury.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by 1ondoner

You remind me of this lady on TV who lost her jailbird adult son to gang violence vehemently defending their son as an angel. Knock yourself out

Another misplaced analogy. Gang violence? That's your response? Enough said lol...knock yourself out. Guess the facts are overwhelming so you resort to a generic analogy dismissal.

So, otherwise innocent people in a situation such as this are guilty because of their past? Wow and again, bizarre. Even if the decedent here had a history of gang violence and jail, he wouldn't be at fault in this situation with White. Please stay off any and all juries.

No wonder you made up those off the wall facts about this case; it fits your predetermined outcome. Again, wow.

You're also the one that thought because White didn't aim for Schellenger's heart, there's no intent...lol...for sure enough said.

[NewtownBucks]

Originally Posted by Kamms

Another misplaced analogy. Gang violence? That's your response? Enough said lol...knock yourself out. Guess the facts are overwhelming so you resort to a generic analogy dismissal.

So, otherwise innocent people in a situation such as this are guilty because of their past? Wow and again, bizarre. Even if the decedent here had a history of gang violence and jail, he wouldn't be at fault in this situation with White. Please stay off any and all juries.

No wonder you made up those off the wall facts about this case; it fits your predetermined outcome. Again, wow.

You're also the one that thought because White didn't aim for Schellenger's heart, there's no intent...lol...for sure enough said.

While I agree with a lot of what you are saying, your characterization of the incident, and in particular the people involved, is far from unbiased. Schellenger was drunk and high on coke and escalated an argument with a maniac wielding a 7" knife into a physical confrontation by attacking him and trying to tackle him. This in no way absolves White from guilt for his actions, which further escalated the confrontation from a fight to a homicide, but 1ondoner's characterization of the incident is correct that there were two idiots involved in the confrontation and one is dead and the other is going to end up in jail for a long time.

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by NewtownBucks

While I agree with a lot of what you are saying, your characterization of the incident, and in particular the people involved, is far from unbiased. Schellenger was drunk and high on coke and escalated an argument with a maniac wielding a 7" knife into a physical confrontation by attackingbusiness deal he him and trying to tackle him. This in no way absolves White from guilt for his actions, which further escalated the confrontation from a fight to a homicide, but 1ondoner's characterization of the incident is correct that there were two idiots involved in the confrontation and one is dead and the other is going to end up in jail for a long time.

The reporting that schellenger being high on coke is not correct. Slight traces of coke were found but were negligible. You make it sound like schellenger was doing lines all night at Rouge or wherever he was on Rittenhouse. No coke was found on schellenger and believe me, if schellenger we’re flying on coke that night, it would be a much more publicized fact, even more than White’s story about racial epithet being used. Even if a White was called a name, how is that a factor in this?

How exactly did Schellenger attack White here? Intoxicated or not, if someone walks up to you, and being quite angry for no reason and then pulls a Rambo knife on you, you may make a self defense move. Schellenger being 37 and drinking may have only made him slower on the move as he tried to take White down with an old wrestling move, thereby leaving his back prone to White’s 7” Rambo knife. If schellenger were high on coke he would have been much quicker moving on White.

Again though, why couldn’t Schellenger move on White after the knife was produced? White’s claiming self defense (because he pulled a knife on a white male stranger due to his general anger fueled by seeing a white dude acting tough in dealing with a black motorist). Wouldnt one expect the motorist to go at physically with schellenger if anyone was going to do that?

This being the reason White jumped on the race card from the start. This racial yarn went from poor White being racially targeted by three drunk white males to now schellenger saying he was going to beat the back off White that only he heard; not buying this story at all.

I still don’t see how schellenger is a bad player here let alone an idiot. Why is schellenger an idiot? Because he was out celebrating a big business deal?

This wasn’t some long drawn out fight; this basically happened in a flash. White appears, draws knife, Schellenger tries to disable man with large knife, schellenger killed by said knife. It’s over. White flees. White arrested in an emotional and well publicized media event complete with horrors of whites initial race card defense that 3 drunk males racially targeted him.

Krasner goes from murder 1, to 3rd degree murder, down to voluntary manslaughter as the trial starts. Interesting given Krasner’s self publicized racial and social justice bent generally and his progressive DA policies in particular.

[Avalon08]

Thanks for posting this update. Since I now live in Florida, I haven't been keeping up with the latest on the case. My question is, why are people excusing Schellenger? He's the one who got out of the car, further escalating the situation, and went ahead and attacked White even after White had shown the knife. If you attack somebody holding a knife, don't you think they're going to use it to defend themselves?

[Mdez]

This is just a very unfortunate situation altogether- could have been avoided completely. I don’t think ANYONE is innocent in this case.

[eliza61nyc]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

Thanks for posting this update. Since I now live in Florida, I haven't been keeping up with the latest on the case. My question is, why are people excusing Schellenger? He's the one who got out of the car, further escalating the situation, and went ahead and attacked White even after White had shown the knife. If you attack somebody holding a knife, don't you think they're going to use it to defend themselves?

And in the interest of full disclosure, yeah I carry a knife and a can of pepper spray. this is Philly and unfortunately I have to walk my dog or take the bus at night.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by eliza61nyc

And in the interest of full disclosure, yeah I carry a knife and a can of pepper spray. this is Philly and unfortunately I have to walk my dog or take the bus at night.

OK but I doubt that while you are walking your dog, upon seeing two motorists arguing, you decide to involve yourself in the dispute and then pull your knife on one of them.