March homicide trial for man accused of killing wife, hiding body

Russ O Reilly, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·1 min read

Nov. 16—EBENSBURG, Pa. — A homicide trial has been rescheduled to March for Brian Bradley Giles, who is accused of murdering his wife and hiding her body along the Inclined Plane hillside in Johnstown.

Nancy Giles, 40, had gone missing from their Franklin Street apartment in Johnstown in October 2018.

Her skeletal remains were subsequently found by a man using a metal detector.

Giles was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife in May 2022.

By order of Cambria County Judge Tamara Bernstein on Wednesday, pretrial motions are to be filed no later than Jan. 5 with pretrial argumentation to follow on Jan. 11; jury selection is slated for March 4 and 5 with a jury trial set to begin noon of March 11. The trial is scheduled to conclude March 15.

Giles' trial had been scheduled for October of this year, but it was delayed by a conflict of interest of Giles' public defender, David Raho, who had been on the case since Giles pleaded not guilty through the Cambria County Public Defender's office a year ago.

Bernstein subsequently appointed attorneys Timothy Burns and David Weaver to represent Giles. On Wednesday, Bernstein ordered the public defender's office to turn over all digital discovery to Giles' new attorneys within 14 days.

Bernstein said electronic discovery gathered by Giles' public defenders including information on thumb drives is "voluminous."

Bernstein asked Burns and Weaver whether they were satisfied with the new schedule, and they had no objections.