Lawyer Charged in Hunting Accident Had Prior Run-Ins with the Law
Updated: A Pennsylvania lawyer convicted of reckless shooting in a 1994 hunting accident was charged today with felony weapons offenses and misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter in the Nov. 29 shooting death of a deer hunter.
The 49-year-old Montgomery County lawyer, David Manilla, will be arraigned today, according to the Allentown Morning Call.
Manilla’s lawyer, Richard Winters, has said his client mistakenly believed he was shooting a deer. The victim, Barry Groh, had taken off his orange safety vest after killing a deer, according to Winters. Manilla’s uncle, former Montgomery County District Attorney Michael Marino, was also in the hunting party.
Earlier today,the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Morning Call had news the unspecified charges were pending.
The prior shooting charge, a summary offense, is not Manilla’s only run-in with the law. He was arrested for shoplifting last year and entered a program for first-time offenders that would leave no record of a conviction, according to the stories.
Before attending law school, Manilla pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for beating a man outside a gym with a weightlifting bar, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in an earlier story. Villanova law school refused to comment when an Inquirer reporter asked if the school was aware of the conviction. Records on Manilla’s 1992 admission to the bar no longer exist.
The beating victim, Daryl Childs, had to have part of his skull removed. He told the Inquirer he had to learn to read and write all over again, and he still finds himself fumbling for words.
Updated at 1:30 p.m. to include the charges announced today.
