PHILADELPHIA _ A Philadelphia jury on Thursday found Michael White not guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of real estate developer Sean Schellenger during a scuffle near Rittenhouse Square last year, a crime that attracted widespread attention for seeming to exemplify the city's long-standing tensions over race and class.
The panel of eight women and four men deliberated for about eight hours over two days before announcing the verdict. The jurors voted to convict White, 22, of tampering with evidence, but cleared him of all other charges.
After the jury exited the courtroom, Schellenger's mother told Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson that she wanted District Attorney Larry Krasner arrested for obstruction of justice. Krasner had twice downgraded the charges against White before trial.
Linda Schellenger said Krasner has "blood on his hands" for how he handled the prosecution of White. She then left the courtroom after the judge ordered her removed.
Anthony Voci, chief of the Homicide Unit in the district attorney's office and one of two prosecutors on the case, said he was disappointed by the verdict. He called Schellenger an "extraordinary human being" and said his death was "a tragedy of immeasurable proportion."
Voci declined to comment on the mother's remarks, saying only that he understood she was upset "because a very bright star has been extinguished."
Juanita White, Michael White's mother, told reporters while leaving the courthouse: "I'm thankful. I'm happy." She declined to comment further.
Her newly exonerated son walked out of the Stout Criminal Justice Center without answering questions from reporters and stepped into the parking garage elevator.
Meanwhile, Mark Schellenger, the victim's father, told reporters that his son "wasn't perfect, but he was no racist, and to have him smeared like that just to save the murderer, that's despicable."
White's lawyers had argued during three days of testimony that he had used a knife against Schellenger in self-defense, and that Schellenger, 37, had said, "I'm going to beat the black off you" before charging at White and trying to tackle him.
The two men did not know each other but came face-to-face during a traffic dispute at 17th and Chancellor streets in July 2018. White, who is black, had been working as a bicycle food courier at the time; Schellenger, who was white, had been out at the nearby restaurant Rouge when he left with friends to drive to a different bar.
According to testimony, White saw Schellenger confronting another driver and told him he didn't need to be a "tough guy." Schellenger then walked toward him and allegedly uttered the racial insult, and White then pulled a knife. When Schellenger charged and wrapped his arms around him, White plunged the knife into Schellenger's back.
Schellenger was pronounced dead that night; White ran from the scene before turning himself in the next day.
The trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn B. Bronson included accounts from White as well as a variety of eyewitnesses.
White was the only one to testify that Schellenger used racial language before his tackle attempt. He also accused one of Schellenger's friends, Norris Jordan, of uttering a racial slur toward other black men at the scene before the stabbing, an allegation Jordan vehemently denied on the witness stand.
Prosecutors had argued that White unnecessarily involved himself in an argument between Schellenger and someone else, then escalated the situation by pulling out a knife and using it against the unarmed Schellenger.
The courtroom was packed each day. Schellenger's relatives could be seen crying at times, particularly when a witness' cell phone video of the attack was played for the jury.
White testified Tuesday that he had been afraid for his safety when Schellenger approached him, and that he had used the knife after being lifted into the air, simply "to get him off me."
