As many of you know, the defendant decided to enter a guilty plea on all of the charges, including attempted murder. As a result, sentencing will take place tomorrow.

Part of the sentencing process is the opportunity for those impacted by the crime to offer statements on how it has impacted their lives. These are called “victim impact statements.” For those who are interested in offering victim impact statements, please contact JP Neary at nearyjp@gmail.com. We would like to get a list to the DA as soon as possible to help them plan how to best proceed tomorrow, so please email JP tonight if you plan to give a statement. As we understand it, anyone who would like to can make a statement.  The only limitation is that there cannot be any derogatory statements made specifically about or directed towards the defendant — this is simply an opportunity to talk about the impact of the crime.

Proceedings will begin at 10:30 a.m. We encourage everyone interested in attending to gather by 10 a.m. at the courthouse. The District Attorney would like the opportunity to review how the proceedings and statements will go.

We apologize for the short notice but are glad that this will be behind us. Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support.

And most importantly, we’re looking forward to this Friday, which should be a great night. Tickets are available here: http://fokn30.eventbrite.com/

There are some changes to the trial schedule that were just shared with us and that we need to share with all of you. 

Jury selection did not occur today as planned ,so the start of the trial will be delayed a bit.  Jury selection is now planned for tomorrow morning which will push the start of the trial to tomorrow afternoon.  With this change, Kevin will not testify until Wednesday morning.  That means the proceedings should start by 9:45 am.  We don’t have much more detail than that at present but we will certainly update the site as soon as we have new information.

Thank you to all who have indicated they will be in the court room for the trial.  It is very helpful to be able to provide the District Attorney’s office with a sense of how crowded the court room  might be.  Of course, if you can make it and show your support for Kevin, the District Attorney, and the police officers who have helped build this case we certainly appreciate it.  Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and support as we get closer to closing this chapter of the story.

If you have any questions please feel free to email or call.

With the trial coming up next week there are a few pertinent details we would like to share.

– Trial Schedule: If all goes well the trial will proceed with jury selection on Monday, testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday, summations on Thursday and deliberations on Friday.  If you are planning to attend please email at nearyjp@gmail.com with the date you might want to be there and the names of who all will be coming.  We will send this list off to the District Attorney to help them better manage the courtroom. Please let us know by Tuesday morning.

– Jury selection will take most of the day on Monday, so keep that in mind if you are interested in attending.

– The trial will begin right around 9 a.m. and likely break for an hour for lunch. It should conclude around 4:30 p.m. each day.

– Kevin will likely testify Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning if needed.

– There is a victims/witness waiting area on the first floor where anyone attending can gather.  The trial will begin by 9:00 a.m. most days.  Please allow time to go through security.

– The trial is scheduled for room 907 in the Criminal Justice Center.  The address is 1301 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.  For more information please visit: http://www.courts.phila.gov/common-pleas/trial/criminal/

– Cell phones cannot be used in the courtroom and will be taken if they go off or are seen being used.  It is best to turn them off or leave them in your car.

– It is important that while the trial is underway that everyone attending refrain from emotional outbursts regardless of who may or may not be testifying.

Thanks again for your support. It is our hope that the trial will conclude by Friday — we are very much looking forward to Kevin’s birthday party on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park. As a reminder, tickets will go up in price on Tuesday, so if you’re coming it makes sense to get them now!