Club Erotica shooter jailed after Supreme Court declines to hear appeal

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will not take up the appeal of a Carnegie man whose murder conviction was tossed by an Allegheny County judge but later reinstated by the Superior Court, clearing the way for him to be sentenced.

Charles Becher, 27, was convicted in 2021 of third-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Seth McDermit at Club Erotica. Becher, who had been out on bond pending the conclusion of the appeals process, was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday, said sheriff’s office spokesman Mike Manko.

Prosecutors in the case said Becher shot and killed McDermit, 31, of Monongahela early Jan. 29, 2021, in the club’s parking lot. Another man, Khalil Walls, was charged with homicide in connection with the shooting death of Christopher Butler during the same incident, but was acquitted.

The jury rejected Becher’s claims of self-defense.

Before Becher could be sentenced, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Mariani threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial. Mariani pointed to testimony from prosecution witnesses who said that one of Becher’s cousins told their group of motorcycle club members, including McDermit, that Becher was going to “smoke all of them.”

At a Jan. 19, 2022, hearing, Mariani said he believed the “smoke all of them” statement was improper hearsay and that it was so highly prejudicial that it deprived Becher of a fair trial. The judge also said that the curative instruction he gave to the jury was insufficient.

The district attorney’s office appealed Mariani’s order to the Superior Court and, in April 2023, the appellate court reversed Mariani’s order for a new trial finding that he abused his discretion.

A judge can only grant a new trial on his own in “’truly exceptional circumstances’ involving ‘exceedingly clear error’ that results in a ‘manifest injustice,’” they wrote.

The Superior Court panel said that those circumstances were not met in Becher’s case. Instead, the appeals court found that the statements were properly admitted at trial.

“The evidence formed an integral part of the history and natural development of the events just before the shooting in explaining what the motorcycle club members had been told,” the court wrote

Becher’s attorney appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court. But on Monday, Pennsylvania’s highest court issued a one-sentence order declining to hear Becher’s case.

A day later, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office filed a motion to have Becher’s bond revoked. Common Pleas Judge Kelly Bigley, who had the case reassigned to her because of Mariani’s retirement, granted the request and issued a bench warrant. Sheriff’s deputies took Becher into custody at his home Tuesday.

He is being held at the Allegheny County Jail.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 6 before Bigley.

Defense attorney Owen Seman, who now represents Becher for sentencing, said his client, who had been working while out on bond, has no criminal record and faces a standard-range sentence starting at six years incarceration.

However, that range can go all the way up to the maximum penalty of 40 years.

“It’s a very wide berth,” Seman said.