Defendant claims another man fired gun in 2018 Arnold shooting
Apr. 17—Nicholas Haynes told a jury Friday afternoon he was only in Arnold three years ago to beat up a man and was surprised his companion pulled out a gun and fired three shots, seriously wounding the former friend.
"We wasn't down there to kill Malcolm or shoot him. That wasn't the plan. We were gonna fight him or burn him for his pills," Haynes testified during the fourth day of his trial on attempted homicide charges.
Testimony in the case against Haynes, 24, formerly of New Kensington, concluded Friday. Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears said closing arguments in the case would begin Monday morning.
Prosecutors contend that, on April 12, 2018, Haynes fired three shots from a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun at 18-year-old Malcolm Dunem in an alley just yards from his home during a meeting with a friend to sell him ecstasy pills.
Haynes is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, a weapons offense and separate counts of victim intimidation and fabricating evidence.
Haynes was one of four defense witnesses to testify Friday. He claimed it was another man, Tavaughn Thornhill of Latrobe, who shot Dunem.
Dunem and Thornhill testified earlier in the trial that Haynes was the shooter.
Haynes told jurors he and Dunem had once been friends but had a falling out after Dunem falsely implicated two associates in a robbery. He said he tagged along on the trip to Arnold with Thornhill and three women to confront and fight Dunem.
He said Thornhill called Dunem a "snake" for making sexual advances toward his girlfriend and arranged a meeting with him under false pretenses to steal his drugs. Once in Arnold, Haynes testified, he and Thornhill planned to separately approach Dunem. When Haynes arrived, he claims he saw Thornhill point a gun at Dunem and fire three shots.
Haynes told jurors he grabbed the gun from Thornhill to make sure he didn't kill the man and, with the weapon in hand, ran back to the alley where three woman waited in the car. The group picked up Thornhill and sped back to Latrobe, Haynes said.
When asked by defense attorney Adam Gorzelsky why he didn't report the shooting to police, Haynes said he was not going to be a snitch.
"Yeah, I felt bad, but I wasn't trying to get myself shot next," Haynes testified.
David Floyd, 23, of Greensburg testified he shared a cell with Dunem, and said his cellmate claimed he was shot by Thornhill and not Haynes. A letter Floyd wrote to Haynes' lawyer contained the same information.
On Thursday, another inmate testified Haynes coerced him to write a nearly identical letter. Investigators said Haynes penned another letter meant for Dunem containing threats and a potential bribe to recant his identification of Haynes as his shooter and point the finger at Thornhill instead.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
