Evidence delays shooting hearing

The preliminary hearing for a student charged with attempted murder has been postponed due to new evidence.

Police allege that College junior Bryan Warner shot a West Philadelphia man in the thigh outside of a deli at 52nd and Spruce streets last month.

Penn's Division of Public Safety is sending University surveillance footage -- which could show that Warner was on campus at the time of the shooting -- to the district attorney's office for review.

The hearing, which was originally scheduled for yesterday, is now supposed to take place April 5.

Warner's lawyer, Richard Harris, believes that the tapes will exonerate his client and cause prosecutors to drop all charges.

"We anticipate that it will be cleared up between now and April 5," said Harris, who subpoenaed the tapes but said he has not seen them.

Surveillance video is stored for 30 days unless it is being used in criminal proceedings, Penn public safety officials said.

Warner spent two days in jail but has since been released on $50,000 bail and has returned to school. He declined to comment on the case.

"There's nothing for us to do at this point," Harris said. "Hopefully the district attorney's office will review the information that they have, and they'll make a determination if there's insufficient evidence to go forward with the case."

Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, declined to comment on any evidence.

Law professor Paul Robinson said that even a defendant who has an alibi may not be any more credible than a witness.

"Unlike the memory of humans, the video footage is pretty attractive. But that depends on the quality of the footage," Robinson said.

Warner was arrested after the victim and a witness identified him in a photo lineup. Warner's picture was on record because he was involved in a fight on campus last year. He was cleared of all charges related to the fight.

Robinson said photo lineups tend to be reliable but that victims can make mistakes.

There are no hard and fast rules for what kind of evidence would counter a lineup identification and lead prosecutors to drop charges, Robinson said.

But Harris is optimistic that the evidence the defense has will be sufficient.

Warner is "the wrong person," Harris said. "It's a misidentification. It's a classic case, and hopefully we'll be able to demonstrate that through the evidence in the tapes."

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