At a pretrial conference yesterday, Christopher Jones pled guilty for his role in the September shooting. Shooting suspect Christopher Jones plead guilty to the attempted murder of College senior Patrick Leroy in a pretrial conference yesterday. Jones also plead guilty to 12 other counts including first degree robbery, criminal conspiracy and instrument of crime. The West Philadelphia resident was charged for his involvement in three separate incidents occuring September 25 -- the Leroy armed robbery and shooting, the armed robbery of another University student and the robbery of a bar at 52nd and Girard streets. Jones surrendered to Philadelphia Police officers October 17 after the arrests of suspects Chris Crawford and Albert Bandy. According to his attorney, Susan Burt, Jones was less involved in the Leroy incident and "less culpable" than the other suspects. Burt added that her client plead guilty to all charges and the trial is set for March 19. But she declined to comment further on today's pretrial conference. Assistant District Attorney Jodi Lobel had noted the possibility of Jones pleading guilty a few weeks ago, but many parties involved expressed surprise. "This certainly wasn't expected," Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush said. "This seems like a very sudden move on the part of Jones." Rush added that it is "unusual" for a suspect to plead guilty at a pretrial conference -- such conferences are usually for the lawyers to converse and typically occur multiple times before a trial. Since Lobel did not notify University detectives of the importance of today's conference, Rush said none of the department attended the meeting and that the guilty plea caught them off-guard. And Leroy, who was not present for the conference, did not know of Jones's guilty plea. Leroy had not yet spoken with his lawyer and declined to comment on the case when reached at home by The Daily Pennsylvanian. Crawford and Bandy's lawyers expect to have a pretrial conference February 13, at which time trial dates for the two suspects will be determined. Crawford and Bandy allegedly approached Leroy and two other University students with semi-automatic weapons on 40th and Locust streets. After seeing the gun, Leroy fled, and Crawford, the alleged gunman, shot him in his right side. The suspects ran to a car parked on 40th Street with a third suspect, said to be Jones, waiting inside. Lobel said the vehicle's driver has not yet been determined. And although a Municipal Court judge ruled in October that there was enough evidence against Crawford and Bandy to warrant a trial, Jones's involvement in the incident had been unclear.
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