Pottstown man rejects plea deal in fatal shooting of girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend
NORRISTOWN — During what was supposed to be a guilty plea hearing, a Pottstown man indicated he had a “change of thought” and rejected a plea deal, saying he now wants to go to trial on charges he shot and wounded his girlfriend and fatally shot the woman’s ex-boyfriend during a domestic-related incident.
“I just had a change of thought,” Avery Michael Nascimento, 22, said on Monday in Montgomery County Court as he answered questions posed to him by defense lawyer Francis Genovese.
Last week, according to testimony, Nascimento advised prosecutors he wanted to accept a plea deal under which he would plead guilty to charges of third-degree murder and attempted murder in exchange for a total sentence of 30 to 60 years in prison in connection with the alleged 2:41 a.m. Jan. 23, 2022, fatal shooting of 36-year-old Sean Robbins and the shooting and wounding of his girlfriend.
Specifically, the plea deal included a 20 to 40 year prison term for third-degree murder and a consecutive 10 to 20 year sentence for attempted murder.
But when he stepped into the courtroom on Monday Nascimento rejected the deal and Judge William R. Carpenter said Nascimento’s trial will begin on July 11 with jury selection.
“I deserve justice just as much as Mr. Robbins does,” Nascimento said later to a reporter when asked why he rejected the plea deal.
Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Mills made clear that the plea agreement offer was no longer on the table after Monday.
In court and under oath, Nascimento said he understood that by rejecting the plea offer he now faces the possibility of a life prison term if he’s convicted by a jury at trial of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing.
A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice or hardness of heart, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
Nascimento, of the 500 block of West Chestnut Street, also faces charges of aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats in connection with the domestic-related incident.
An autopsy determined Robbins sustained a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was determined to be homicide.
The investigation began at 2:41 a.m. Jan. 23 when Pottstown police were dispatched to a residence in the 100 block of Sheridan Street for a report of shots fired, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Heather Long and Pottstown Detective Adrian Stead. Upon arrival, police encountered Sodonia Medunic, 34, who had wounds to her hand, hip and leg, outside the residence and she directed police inside where they found Robbins dead from a gunshot wound to the head, according to court papers.
Medunic was transported to Reading Hospital’s trauma unit for treatment of her injuries.
Medunic told detectives that she was involved in a romantic relationship with Nascimento and that he had been at her Sheridan Street residence on the night of Jan. 22 to “hang out” when an argument ensued.
“While there she and Nascimento began to argue because he requested to look at pictures on her cellular phone. During the course of this argument, Nascimento struck and choked her and as a result of this assault Medunic ran out of the residence and hid from Nascimento,” Long and Stead alleged in court papers.
Medunic eventually returned to the residence where Nascimento allegedly assaulted her again by striking and choking her and threatening her with a handgun. Nascimento also made statements to the woman that she was “going to die tonight,” according to detectives.
During the course of the alleged assault, Medunic received a phone call from Robbins, her ex-boyfriend, and Nascimento intercepted the call and he and Robbins argued, detectives alleged. Robbins eventually showed up at the Sherdian Street residence in the early morning hours of Jan. 23 and Medunic told him not to come inside because Nascimento had a gun, according to the criminal complaint.
Robbins eventually did come inside and he and Nascimento agreed to “talk it out,” detectives alleged.
The two men sat at a dining room table and talked for less than a minute before they became involved in a physical altercation, detectives said.
“During this physical altercation, Nascimento, who was armed with a handgun, fired several shots at Robbins, which caused Medunic to run from the residence,” Long and Stead alleged.
The woman ran to a neighbor’s home for help and while she was on a neighbor’s porch banging on a door, Nascimento approached her, “firing multiple shots at her,” detectives alleged. The woman told detectives that after she was struck by the gunfire she fell to the porch and “played dead” and Nascimento fled the area on foot.
When detectives processed the crime scene they located three 9mm fired cartridge casings and one live round of 9mm ammunition inside the residence in close proximity to Robbins’s body. On the sidewalk outside the residence, in front of the neighboring home, detectives located three 9mm fired cartridge casings and three live rounds of 9mm ammunition, according to the arrest affidavit.
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