The 17-year-old who is charged with attempted murder of 49ers receiver Ricky Pearsall made his second court appearance on Tuesday. His lawyer argued that the situation did not reflect an effort to kill Pearsall.
“It was a rather extended struggle between Mr. Pearsall and my client,” public defender Robert Dunlap said while describing security footage of the incident, via David Lombardi of TheAthletic.com. “They were really fighting back and forth on the sidewalk. As you might imagine, Mr. Pearsall gets the best of it. He does kind of — I don’t know if you’ve ever wrestled or not — a nice hip toss and throws my client to the ground and ends up on top of him. . . . I think [the video] supports that this is an attempted robbery and not an attempted murder.”
Three shots were fired during the fight. Pearsall was shot in the chest and out the back. The defendant was shot through the forearm.
Dunlap also took issue with the report that the defendant had recently taken a gun to school.
“My client did not have a gun at school,” Dunlap said. “It’s a false report.”
The defendant will remain in custody until the next hearing, on September 26. Authorities have not yet decided whether to attempt to try him as an adult.