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A jury found Keith Schofield not guilty on four counts related to the attempted off-campus carjacking of a Penn student. and Sabrina Gleizer The West Philadelphia man accused of shooting a Penn student last fall during a failed carjacking was acquitted of all charges against him yesterday. Keith Schofield was accused of shooting then-College senior James McCormack in the abdomen on the 4200 block of Pine Street on November 17, 1997. A jury of five men and seven women found Schofield not guilty a full day of deliberations. "I'm very happy with the verdict," said Schofield, who hugged his attorney, public defender Joseph Levin, after the verdict was read. "They didn't have evidence. I'm not the type of person who could do this." But Assistant District Attorney Dino Privitera said he still believes that Schofield is guilty. "The jury did not find the defendant innocent," said Privitera. "They found reasonable doubt." The prosecution was hindered by the fact that its only major evidence was McCormack's identification of Schofield as his attacker. A jacket like the one McCormack said his assailant was wearing was found during a search of Schofield's sister's apartment, and was the only piece of corroborating evidence. The defense, however, called two witnesses who claimed that they saw the alleged assailant run past them after the shooting and that Schofield was not the man they saw. Schofield was arrested in early January. McCormack admitted that his testimony may not have been enough to convict the man he still believes shot him. "We were fighting an uphill battle from the beginning," said McCormack, who is finishing his bachelor's degree this month. The jury deliberated for about eight hours starting Monday afternoon and concluding with a verdict at around 4 p.m. yesterday. After the verdict came in, Privitera said there was additional evidence that he was not allowed to present to the jury, including a lie-detector test Schofield failed as well as his prior criminal record, because it would have been prejudicial. While professing his innocence, Schofield declined to comment about where he was at the time of the shooting. "I'm not going to get into that. I wasn't in the area. I have to find me a job, get my life back together," he said. Schofield said he blamed the police, not McCormack, for his prosecution. "It's not McCormack's fault," Schofield said. "It's Detective Sharkey's fault," he added, referring to Philadelphia Police Det. Michael Sharkey, who the defense maintained was "seeking retribution" against Schofield for another case he was investigating. Sharkey denied such accusations during his testimony. "I blame the police because they didn't do their job," Schofield said. "I wish the person that did it could have been caught." McCormack praised the police for doing their job in attempting to bring Schofield to justice. The trial began last Monday, and included testimony from McCormack, several Philadelphia and University police officers and eyewitnesses to the attack. The defense built its case by attacking the police, especially Sharkey, who initially suggested to investigators that Schofield could be the assailant, prompting them to include his photograph in a set of pictures shown to McCormack.

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