http://www.boston.com/dailynews/186/nation/Judge_acquits_robbery_defendan:.shtml

Judge acquits robbery defendant who wouldn't undergo surgery to remove bullet fragments

By Associated Press, 7/5/2001 16:11

PHILADELPHIA (AP) A robbery defendant was found innocent after refusing to undergo surgery to remove bullet fragments prosecutors say would have proved he committed the crime.

Nathan Pailin, 18, was too scared to undergo surgery, said his attorney, Kathleen E. Martin. She argued that a court order violated her client's Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure.

The order could not be enforced because at least two hospitals, fearing lawsuits, refused to perform the surgery without Pailin's consent.

Lacking other hard evidence, Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe acquitted Pailin on Monday of robbery, aggravated assault and a weapons offense.

Last August, a masked man on a bicycle robbed two men and fired a gun at them. One victim returned fire with his own gun, and the assailant fled.

Police investigated Pailin because he checked himself into a hospital that night with a gunshot wound to the chest. The wound was treated, but the fragments were not removed.

''He could not have been shot by some other stray bullet from some other shooting,'' prosecutor Steven Collier said.

Martin countered that there was no blood at the scene to prove that the robber was shot and no fingerprints on the bike matched Pailin's.

Pailin remains in jail awaiting trial on a drug charge.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2001