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The case of a Penn grad's alleged assailant may go to a jury as soon as today. and Rod Kurtz Two witnesses testified Friday that the man they saw running past them after the shooting of a then-College senior on the 4200 block of Pine Street during a failed carjacking attempt was not the person now charged with the crime. Keith Schofield, who is standing trial for attempted murder, aggravated assault and related charges in connection with the November 17, 1997 incident, was identified as the assailant by the victim -- 1998 College graduate James McCormack -- in court on Wednesday. But two eyewitnesses at the scene of the crime contested McCormack's identification of the defendant. "I believe that was not the guy who did the shooting," defense witness Jacob Newton, who was standing nearby and saw the assailant run past him, testified. "I know that it was definitely not him." Newton said he was getting out of his car to visit a friend when he heard the gunshot and saw a man run within three feet of him. The friend, John Dawson, who agreed with Newton that the police arrested the wrong man, was installing a stereo in his car about 50 yards from where the shooting took place. "There was no way [the assailant] could have been [Schofield]," Dawson said. Newton's testimony contradicts the prosecution's main piece of evidence: McCormack's positive identification of Schofield as the shooter. McCormack originally identified Schofield in a police photo array shortly after the shooting, at the time saying he was 90 percent sure that Schofield was the assailant. And after seeing him in a line-up, McCormack said he was positive that Schofield was the shooter. The defense's only other key piece of evidence is a camouflage, army-like jacket found at Schofield's sister's apartment, which McCormack alleges the attacker was wearing. Philadelphia Police Detective Robert Stansfield, the case's lead investigator, testified Friday that he found the jacket in a bag in Schofield's sister's apartment. Newton, however, claimed that the man who ran past him was wearing a dark blue or black top. Public defender Joseph Levin, Schofield's attorney, questioned the validity of Stansfield's police work, pointing out that he never spoke to Newton or Dawson after a brief conversation at the scene of the crime. Stansfield testified under cross-examination that the information Newton gave "was not useful" to him. Although McCormack, Newton and Dawson now give different opinions of what the shooter looked like, their initial descriptions matched. They said the assailant was in his mid-20s and weighed between 165 and 175 pounds. Schofield is 34 and weighs 135 pounds. The jury is expected to begin its deliberations today after the attorneys' closing statements. Levin and Assistant District Attorney Dino Privitera, the case's prosecutor, said they would not comment until the end of the trial, which is taking place before Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Kathryn Lewis in room 1008 of the Criminal Justice Center, located at 13th and Filbert streets across from City Hall.

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