Bucks DA: Marino Death 'Justifiable Homicide'

Update, 5:38 p.m. July 30

Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler called the investigation into the death of Michael W. Marino "thorough and impartial" and defended claims that Marino was "society's victim in these events" by describing the victim as "drug-abusing, mentally ill and violent."

He said to prosecute Officer Seth Mumbauer would make him "a scapegoat for those who decided Marino could be free without supervision."

During a 3 p.m. press conference in his office in the Bucks County Courthouse, Heckler said Mumbauer shot Marino once in the chest.

Marino's hands were cuffed behind his back, Heckler said.

"Shortly before the shooting, a total of three officers had combined to subdue Marino. The shooting took place during a fight which began after one officer stepped away and Marino dropped to his back and began kicking the officers to the extent that one was put out of the fight entirely," Heckler said. "Officer Mumbauer was dazed, having been kicked in the jaw and groin."

He said the incident was witnessed by at least one disinterested civilian witness.

One witness to the incident at the convenience store where police were called the afternoon of June 9 was Bikers Against Child Abuse Montgomery County Chapter member Ron Gallagher.

Heckler had points to make to those who believe that Marino was society's victim in the events.

"Whatever mental illnesses Michael Marino suffered from - he, his doctors, those close to him and ultimately our society - decided that he should be free, on the street, with a car, unsupervised and able to purchase and use controlled substances as he saw fit," Heckler said.

"He elected not to take the prescribed medications which had helped him live within society's rules and he decided to consume illegal substances, some of which have been known to make people do many bizarre things, including act out violently," Heckler said.

Heckler referred to these substances as bath salts or syntheic cannabinoids, which, he said, affect the synapses in the brain much like marijuana. 

"He addressed himself in a variety of aggressive and anti-social ways toward people he didn't know and who had not provoked him in any way," Heckler said. "When confronted by police, as was inevitable given his conduct and as had occurred before in his life, he chose to do battle even after he had been restrained, instead of submitting to lawful authority."

"The police did not create this situation - he did," Heckler said.

Heckler said to prosecute Mumbauer would to make him a scapegoat for those who decided Marino could be free without supervision.

"It would be to make that officer a scapegoat for society's choice to cut corners and hope for the best where the mentally ill are concerned, and for society's decision that when things don't go well with the mentally ill, we'll let the criminal justice system handle the mess that follows," he said. 

He said prosecuting Mumbauer would make him a scapegoat for the tactical misjudgements of others "who had the responsibility for protecting the public from this drug-abusing, mentally ill and violent subject."

"This is truly a case where the devil is in the details," he said. "It is for this reason that the county detectives conducted a thorough and independent investigation and why I have taken the step of providing an unusually detailed recounting of the findings of that investigation."

The findings are public documents and have been shared with counsel for the Marino family - Gerald McHugh of Raynes McCarty Law Firm in Philadelphia.

A message was left with McCarty seeking comment on any civil litigation against Perkasie Police.

Perkasie Police Chief Joseph Gura also received a copy of the findings.

Earlier Story

Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler has declined to charge a Perkasie police officer in the June 9 death of Michael Marino, the Quakertown-area man who was shot and killed during an alteraction with police near a vacant Sellersville industrial property in which he had allegedly been squatting.

Marino, 26, died after being shot once in the chest by Officer Seth Mumbauer following what Mumbauer described to investigators as a physical struggle on "uneven terrain." Police said Marino had been handcuffed and was resisting their attempts to take him to Grand View Hospital for medical attention.

Perkasie Police Officer Steven Graff told investigators that after Marino had been handcuffed by Mumbauer, he "began to flip out" while Graff was frisking him.

Graff said he "went to the ground" with Marino to physically subdue him and was "knocked backwards down [an] embankment and disoriented." Before Graff got up, he heard a gunshot.

Mumbauer, who said he was kicked in the jaw, told investigators, "I knew we were losing this fight" and "I feared for our safety," explaining that he believed Marino may have broken loose of his handcuffs or been armed.

"I do not find that Officer Mumbauer's belief that he needed to draw and fire his weapon was unreasonable under the circumstances," Heckler wrote in his official statement of findings.

See DA Heckler's statement of findings in this article's PDF section.

Heckler was critical of "the loss of tactical control" that he said led to Mumbauer needing to use deadly force and suggested that Marino should have promptly been placed in the back of a police car in order to end the officers' "physical interaction" with him.

Additionally, Heckler found, Perkasie Police Sergeant James Rothrock, who had walked some distance from the scene to ask a witness to move back from the area, should have stayed with his two colleagues.

"[The witness] didn't present a threat," Heckler wrote. "He could have been verbally requested to remain at a safe distance."

Ultimately, Heckler said, it was outside his prosecutorial authority to determine whether proper police procedure had been followed.

"The matter which does lie within my responsibility is whether any crimes were committed in connection with Mr. Marino's death," Heckler wrote.

"Under the applicable law his act was therefore a justifiable homicide," Heckler concluded.

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