Manilla to be charged in deer hunter's shooting death

Montgomery County lawyer David M. Manilla will be charged Friday in connection with the Nov. 29 shooting death of a Bucks County deer hunter.

Manilla, 49, of Worcester, will be arraigned at 2 p.m. on undisclosed criminal charges in the killing of hunter Barry Groh of Quakertown, Bucks County District Attorney David W. Heckler said Thursday afternoon. A news conference has been scheduled for afterward.

While Heckler would not reveal the exact charges, he said that no one but Manilla was being charged in the death. Manilla had been hunting with two other men, including his uncle, former Montgomery County District Attorney Michael D. Marino.

Heckler has said he was weighing possible charges including third-degree murder, manslaughter, and firearms violations.

Groh, 52, was fatally shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle in a Richland Township creek bed along property Manilla owned. It is illegal to hunt with such a long-range gun in Bucks County, where only shotguns, muzzle-loaders, and bows are allowed because of the county's population density.

It is also illegal for a convicted felon to possess a firearm. Manilla has a felony record for a 1985 assault in Montgomery County.

Groh had called his wife around 10:30 a.m., saying he needed their son, 19, to come help him remove a large buck he had just shot. Police were summoned around 12:30 p.m. to the creek bed, where Groh's body was found in the water.

J. David Farrell, an attorney for Manilla, declined to comment Thursday.