Joseph Cho, the second-year Penn Law student who faces attempted murder charges, will find out today in a preliminary hearing if his case will move to trial.
Cho, 31, allegedly fired nearly 15 shots into the door of his downstairs neighbors' apartment because he believed they were spying on him. The neighbors were two male Drexel University undergraduates.
He is also charged with aggravated assault, burglary, ethnic intimidation and other related offenses.
A judge will determine if the case should be sent the case to trial, a scenario that is unlikely, some legal experts say.
"I would doubt very much that the preliminary hearing is actually going to take place," said Patrick Artur, a Philadelphia criminal attorney who is not affiliated with the case. "You have an otherwise good citizen who was obviously suffering from some sort of crisis. These kinds of cases usually are and should be resolved in some sort of non-trial disposition."
Edward Ohlbaum, a law professor at Temple University who focuses on criminal law, agreed.
"My very strong suspicion is that [the hearing] will be continued," he said, adding that the postponement will give both sides the chance for additional investigation into Cho's mental health.
Peter Bowers, Cho's lawyer, did not return repeated requests for comment.
As for a possible punishment for Cho, Artur said the student's mental status could lessen the consequences he eventually faces.
"If the individual's health status can be worked up properly, [the criminal-justice system] is not totally oblivious to mitigations in these kinds of cases," he said.
Penn Law professor Paul Robinson agreed with Artur's assessment, but added that mental-health issues are often not brought up until the trial stage and have little influence on preliminary hearings.
According to police officials, Cho, who is Korean, was attempting to harm the Drexel students partly due to their Indian ethnicity.
Ohlbaum said that if the preliminary hearing does take place, it will be "exceedingly difficult" for the prosecution to prove the charges of attempted murder and ethnic intimidation, unless Cho has admitted his actions were driven by the victims' race and he intended to kill them.
Ohlbaum added that he believed Cho has made such remarks because, otherwise, the prosecution would not have brought forth those charges.
Lt. John Walker of the Philadelphia Police Department would not comment on any statements Cho may have made, but said he thought the case would move to trial.
"We have a case that we feel is justified to bring him forward to a criminal trial," Walker said.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's office refused comment.
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