Despite 'Castle Doctrine,' defendant is convicted in slaying :: 06/01/2012

A PHILADELPHIA JUDGE said Wednesday he was convinced that a disabled, retired Marine was being attacked in the moments before he fatally stabbed a man last October, but he concluded that the stabbing was still a criminal act rather than self-defense.

Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner then convicted Jonathan Lowe, 57, of voluntary manslaughter and possession of an instrument of crime. The judge found him not guilty of the more-serious charges of first- and third-degree murder.

Lowe, who wears a pacemaker and has survived two strokes and two heart surgeries, could face up to 12 1/2 to 25 years in prison when Lerner sentences him Aug. 16.

The case underscores how uncertain the claim of self-defense can be, even in a state that revised its "Castle Doctrine" last year to give an individual the right to use deadly force in self-defense anywhere in which a person has a legal right to be. The revised law also eliminated the duty to retreat before using that force. Lowe's case was featured in March in a Daily News article about the revision of that doctrine.

The voluntary-manslaughter conviction means that Lowe committed the stabbing under provocation but that his actions were unreasonable, or imperfect self-defense, Lerner said.

"There are some unanswered questions in my mind about what happened here," Lerner said. "We will never know exactly how this incident began, and I don't think we will ever know, 100 percent, when the stabbing began."

During the two-day nonjury trial, Lowe and his attorney, Samuel C. Stretton, argued that he acted in self-defense on the evening of Oct. 1, 2011, when he was jumped by Loren Manning Jr., 51, and at least two other men on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near Bouvier Street.

"When he had his hands around my neck, I pulled out my knife and started stabbing him," Lowe testified Wednesday.

Stretton noted that Lowe stayed at the scene and cooperated with police, believing himself to be the victim.

Stretton said case law barred him from introducing Manning's 18 criminal convictions at trial because Lowe wasn't aware of them and most of them were too old, the most recent from 2002. According to court records, Manning was awaiting trial for allegedly knocking out a woman's teeth while robbing her two years ago Thursday.