A small but determined group demonstrated in Perry Square on Sunday to keep the memory of homicide victim Marchello “Chello” Woodard alive.<\/p>\n
The trial of Pennsylvania state parole agent Kevin Seelinger, who is charged with first-degree murder in Woodard’s shooting death, is now less than a month away.<\/p>\n
About a dozen people lined the grounds of Perry Square, holding signs with Marchello’s name, calling for justice, and reminding passersby why they were there.<\/p>\n
Some held photos, others carried handwritten posters, and there were quiet moments of prayer.<\/p>\n
“I have no grudges, nothing against Kevin. I’m not with that because my son was a man of peace. He was a man of peace. I mean, he would want justice, but he was a man of peace and he had a heart of gold. He loved everybody. He didn’t care what, black, white, blue, green, or yellow,” Martha Bradley, Marchello Woodard\u2019s Mother said.<\/p>\n
Last summer, Marchello Woodard was killed during an exchange with state parole agent Kevin Seelinger.<\/p>\n
Public concern quickly followed, with family members and civil rights advocates speaking out.<\/p>\n
Other protesters said the message is also about accountability in Erie.<\/p>\n
“We also want to make sure that the community is aware of the impact that this trial can have in a positive way on police practices and parole practices here in Erie,” Geoffrey Groce said.<\/p>\n
Family members and protesters said the signs are not just slogans. They want the community to understand that “justice for all” should be a priority.<\/p>\n
The trial for Kevin Seelinger, who is charged in Woodard’s fatal shooting, is scheduled to begin October 5 in Erie County Common Pleas Court.<\/p>\n
Jury selection is expected to begin September 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A small but determined group demonstrated in Perry Square on Sunday to keep the memory of homicide victim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[6437,136,138,137,740,42402,4636,370],"class_list":["post-295298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-demonstration","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-justice","tag-kevin-seelinger","tag-marchello-woodard","tag-perry-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}