Commonwealth of PA v. Jensen

[Spats McGee]

If you read this forum regularly, you already know that the issue of modified guns comes up quite often. The issue typically escalates into some, erm, warmer responses, if not outright heated ones.

So here's Commonwealth of PA v. Jensen, which is non-precedential, yet nonetheless interesting. The TLDR version is: The defendant below and appellant here, shot the woman with whom he was living. He claimed it was an accident. The trial court did not find him credible, at least in part because he had modified the trigger on the AR with which he shot her. The trial court apparently thought this undermined his claim that the shooting was accidental, given his 'intricate' knowledge of the firearm.

However, the lower court emphasized that Appellant was unwilling to undergo treatment and refused to take prescribed medication for his diagnosed mental health issues. In addition, the lower court found Appellant not credible when he claimed that he was unfamiliar with how to operate the murder weapon as Appellant admitted that he modified the trigger on the AR-15 himself. In light of Appellant’s intricate knowledge of the firearm, his tumultuous relationship with the victim, and the fact that he fled the scene to evade apprehension, the trial court reasoned that the possibility that Appellant accidentally pulled the trigger of his firearm was “relatively remote” as his actions were “inconsistent with an innocent person or [a] person who is doing something accidental.” N.T. Sentencing, at 103-105. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Jensen, Appellant, No. 2484 EDA 2019, 2020 WL 3412724, at *5 (Pa. Super. Ct. June 22, 2020)

 

[DaleA]

he was unfamiliar with how to operate the murder weapon as Appellant admitted that he modified the trigger on the AR-15 himself.

The guy lost a LOT of credibility with me if this was his actual claim. Just THIS part of his claim:

he was unfamiliar with how to operate the murder weapon

makes me a little suspicious.

The rest of it, fleeing the scene, would also make me tend to disbelieve him.

 

[thallub]

So we have a guy who:

1. Shot his girlfriend.

2. Lightened the trigger on his AR-15.

3. Had a diagnosed mental condition.

4. Was off his meds.

5. Who abused controlled substances.

6. Who ran away after the shooting of his girlfriend.

Perp is in prison where he belongs.