Man to face murder trial years after shooting

MARVIN BROWN was 19 in June 2011 when he was shot and left a quadriplegic. He died this past July at age 23.

Wednesday, the man who had been convicted and sentenced to 30 to 62 years in state prison on attempted-murder and related offenses in Brown's shooting was held for trial on a murder charge in Brown's death.

Edward Sheed Jr. - who turned 25 Wednesday - shot Brown on June 10, 2011, on Allison Street near Springfield Avenue in Kingsessing, the same street where Sheed lived with his grandmother.

Brown had previously testified that Sheed had robbed him of his cellphone. Brown said he walked after Sheed, wanting to get his phone back, but then decided to stop because Sheed had a gun.

As Brown was turning to leave, Sheed shot him from a couple of houses away.

Brown, of Southwest Philadelphia, was shot in the neck - fracturing his cervical spine and paralyzing him - and in the chest and thigh. After his death, the District Attorney's Office charged Sheed with murder.

Albert Chu, the city's deputy medical examiner, who conducted an autopsy on Brown after his death, testified Wednesday at Sheed's preliminary hearing that Brown's manner of death was homicide.

He said the cause of death was "pulmonary thromboembolism," or a blood clot in the lung, due to immobility, due to Brown's being a quadriplegic, which was in turn caused by the 2011 shooting.

Chu, who also reviewed Brown's medical records, said he didn't see any other reasons for Brown to have developed a large blood clot in his lung other than his being sedentary from the shooting.

Defense attorney Gary Server argued that Sheed should not be held for trial on first-degree murder, contending Sheed did not intend to kill Brown.

Assistant District Attorney Jan McDermott argued that Sheed should be held for trial on first-degree murder, noting Brown was retreating when Sheed shot him multiple times.

Municipal Judge James DeLeon held Sheed for trial on a charge of "murder generally," which includes first- and other degrees of murder, leaving it up to a jury or judge to decide at trial.

In 2002, Sheed, then 11, made headlines and was touted for his bravery after he walked into a police station and turned in his father, Edward Sheed Sr., who had forced the little boy to sell drugs in North Philadelphia.

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