A family friend of former Philadelphia Police Officer Frank Tepper told a jury Thursday that she saw blood on Tepper's face shortly before he shot neighbor William Panas Jr.
Rebecca Malinowski, 21, was called as a witness by defense attorney Fortunato "Fred" Perri Jr. as he began his case in Tepper's murder trial in Common Pleas Court.
Tepper, 45, is charged in the Nov. 21, 2009, shooting of Panas after a melee that erupted outside Tepper's Port Richmond rowhouse.
Malinowski's testimony was important because it corroborated Perri's claim that, before Tepper fired his weapon, he was punched in the face trying to break up a fight that erupted between neighborhood men and guests at a baby shower for his daughter.
But under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Erin Boyle, Malinowski's testimony also undercut the defense claim that Tepper was being menaced and cornered by a group of young men.
Malinowski was friends with Tepper's daughter, Ashley, and attended the baby shower. She said she watched the incident evolve from the front step of Tepper's Elkhart Street house.
Malinowski said Panas and his friends were standing in front of Tepper arguing with him. But she did not see Panas or any of his friends reach toward or strike the 16-year veteran police officer.
Nor, Malinowski testified, was anyone behind Tepper blocking his retreat into his house.
Malinowski said Tepper drew his pistol and pointed it toward the sky. Then, as Panas and the officer argued, "he pointed his gun at [Panas] and fired."
Trial testimony, which began Tuesday, will conclude Friday afternoon, Common Pleas Court Judge Shelley Robins New told the jury.
Perri has not said whether Tepper would testify.
Tepper, last assigned to the Civil Affairs Unit, is charged with murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and reckless endangerment.
According to testimony, at some point shortly before 11 p.m., one of Tepper's guests went outside and got into an argument with a neighbor that quickly became a fistfight.
Panas, witnesses said, had been drinking with friends outside a nearby local catering hall and, along with his friends, went to investigate.
Instead, witnesses said, Panas got involved in a fight that ended when Tepper, who also had been drinking, came out of his house with his personal semiautomatic pistol and ordered the group to back up.
When Panas yelled out a dare that Tepper would not shoot, the off-duty officer pulled the trigger and shot Panas in the chest.
Prosecutors have argued that Tepper violated several police directives, including one that requires police not to shoot unless facing "imminent death or serious bodily injury" and only if they cannot retreat.
Officers are also supposed to call 911 rather than intercede in family or neighborhood disputes, prosecutors say.
