Trial begins for man charged in fatal Club Erotica shooting in McKees Rocks

The prosecution told a jury Monday morning that Charles Becher had a duty to retreat from a fight outside Club Erotica in McKees Rocks in January.

Instead, Becher introduced a weapon into the altercation that led to the death of two men.

Therefore, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Kiray said, Becher should be found guilty of criminal homicide.

Defense attorney James Wymard argued that his client, who just weeks before the altercation had completed his active military duty and then joined the reserves, was simply defending himself after being attacked as he tried to break up the confrontation.

It is likely that video obtained from security cameras outside the strip club on Island Avenue will be key evidence in the case. That video is expected to be played for the jury on Tuesday.

Police said the shooting occurred just after 2:30 a.m. Jan. 29 in the parking lot of Club Erotica.

Christopher Roy Butler, 22, of West Mifflin, and Seth Andrew McDermit, 31, of Monongahela, were killed.

Becher, 24, is charged with homicide in McDermit’s death, as well as aggravated assault for shooting another man in the group.

A co-defendant, Khalil Walls, is charged in Butler’s death. He is scheduled to go to trial separately next year.

A criminal complaint filed in the case said that Becher had been inside the club when someone entered and said that a person was being “jumped” outside, and that his relatives were involved.

Becher told investigators he went outside and found a group of men threatening his female cousins. He also said one of those men flashed a gun at him, causing him to pull his firearm as well, the complaint said.

But Wymard told the jury Monday that his client did not pull his weapon until after he was down on the ground being physically assaulted by the men who’d threatened his cousins.

Becher had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and after the shooting, the defense attorney said, Becher stayed at the club and waited for police to arrive.

Judge double-booked with trials

The case before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani is being heard on an abbreviated daily schedule.

Becher’s case will proceed each day from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and another jury trial — that against former Istanbul Sofra owner Adnan Pehlivan, who is accused of burglary, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault stemming from an alleged sexual assault on the South Side on May 15, 2018 — will be heard from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

Wymard said Mariani was double-booked with both cases, and decided to proceed this way.

“I have no problem with it,” Wymard said. “He’s pushing it. He’s prepared to do it, and I salute him for doing it.”

Mariani did not return a call seeking comment.

Although the Becher case is less than a year old, the Pehlivan case was tried once before in the spring of 2019. However, the jury in that trial acquitted him on some counts and could not reach a decision on others.

Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at Saint Vincent College, said while hearing two jury trials simultaneously is unusual, it is not unheard of.

Typically, in a situation like this, Antkowiak said the judge will keep a tight schedule and try to streamline the cases as much as possible, which means shorter breaks, possibly more stipulations by the parties and more witnesses ready to go.

“I think a lot of times, judges believe that the amount of time you give is the amount of time that will be filled,” Antkowiak said.

While it’s out of the norm, he said, there’s nothing inherently problematic or appealable.

It could make the cases take additional time — as much as twice as much — which means keeping jurors for a longer period of service, as well as witnesses, victims, defendants and their loved ones. Typically, he said, judges are solicitous of the jury and the jurors’ time.

“Judges are administering the system. They do take these things into account,” Antkowiak said. “They do, and they should.”