After a 17-year-old suspect accused of shooting 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in an Aug. 31 attempted robbery was formally charged with attempted murder last week, the attorney representing the teen believes new video evidence supports a lesser charge.
San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Bob Dunlap said Tuesday, following a pretrial hearing where the high school senior waived his right to a speedy trial, that the evidence shows the incident near Union Square was not attempted murder but instead only an attempted robbery.
"It supports what's always been my belief and theory in this case, that this is an attempted robbery, not an attempted murder," Dunlap said (h/t ESPN), noting footage he has provided to the prosecution depicts "a rather extended struggle" between the two, with Pearsall overpowering the teen suspect.
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Both Pearsall and the 17-year-old from Tracy, Calif., were shot in the incident after the teen tried to rob the 49ers wide receiver as he was walking to his car after doing some luxury shopping in San Francisco. Pearsall was shot in the chest and the bullet exited through his back, while the suspect was shot in the arm in the struggle.
After the teen was arrested about a block away following the shooting, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced three days later that he had been charged with attempted murder, along with assault with a semi-automatic firearm and attempted robbery charges. The DA's office also added on several gun-related charges the next day.
The teen suspect later shared remorse through a statement from Dunlap after he was arraigned in juvenile court.
“He’s genuinely very sorry that this did happen, as is his family, and I can say on their behalf, as well as on my own behalf, our thoughts go out to the Pearsall family and Mr. Pearsall himself," Dunlap told reporters after the hearing, per The Associated Press. "So, there is genuine, genuine remorse in that regard. He is a young boy.”
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Jenkins said prosecutors have yet to decide if they will petition the court to try the teen as an adult, but Dunlap believes that isn't needed.
“Even though this is obviously a serious case … in the normal course of events this will not warrant a transfer,” Dunlap said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. “I hope it doesn’t.”
Pearsall was released from the hospital the day after the shooting and returned to the 49ers' facility two days after the incident and was placed on the NFI list. Before the 49ers' game against the New York Jets on Monday night at Levi's Stadium, Pearsall invited two of the first responders who helped save his life after the shooting to be honored on the field.
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