Retaliation was motive behind shooting outside Brighton Heights funeral, DA says
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office said a gang war unfolded on the streets of Pittsburgh and retaliation was the motive behind a shooting outside a funeral last year.
Nearly 16 months have passed since two gunmen opened fire on a funeral service in Brighton Heights.
Surveillance videos from all angles played out in court. It’s a major piece of evidence in Hezekiah Nixon’s two cases, cases that the Commonwealth calls a gang war playing out on the streets.
“The homicide case that occurred on Brighton Place as well as the funeral shooting that occurred on the North Side as well,” said Casey White, Nixon’s attorney.
Nixon was just 16 years old at the time of both shootings, that’s why White argued in Juvenile Court on Friday that this case should be moved out of Adult Court. The only witness he put on the stand was Nixon’s mom.
“He had some missteps as a youth, but ultimately he was a well-behaved individual that obeyed the rules of the home and hung out with his brothers and sisters and had two loving parents at home. I think it was important to show Judge Sizemore that he has options available to him, he has options at home,” White said.
But that’s not the story the Commonwealth paints. During Nixon’s time in the Allegheny County Jail, he received four misconduct reports. One detective testified that new criminal charges are pending after Nixon broke the bones of a corrections officer.
The Commonwealth spent the better part of four hours showing multiple videos of the crimes Nixon is alleged to have committed including the murder of Stephone Drayton on Brighton Place just months before the funeral shooting.
The Commonwealth described the shootings as one retaliation after another in this gang war, but White said the evidence isn’t there to prove that’s actually his client.
Since this is the first time a family court judge has conducted this type of decertification hearing instead of an adult court judge, he’s hopeful the ruling will go in his client’s favor.
“They see juveniles every day, they see the qualities of the wards for each kid in each situation, every day they make a determination on what’s in the best interest of the child, over across the street, it’s guilt or innocence, here it’s the best interest of the child,” White said.
The judge is going to make her decision on Feb. 22.
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