Double-murder trial day 2: Jury selection
Wednesday was the start of what may very well be the first trial of its kind in Somerset County — two murder victims, four defendants, five defense attorneys, two state prosecutors and approximately 50 witnesses, according to court officials.
Check back here each day for daily updates on this developing story.
Day 1: The wheels of justice did not move for potential jurors.
Potential jurors, 100 strong, waited Wednesday in Somerset County courthouse's courtroom two and the adjoining conference room for the selection process to begin only to be sent home at the end of the day and ordered to return the next day for the process to begin anew.
The seven attorneys in this case — five defense and two prosecution — hashed out potential problems in pretrial motions before the judge ending at around 4 p.m. when Somerset Judge Scott Bittner, who will preside over the double murder trial, presented his decisions in a different courtroom away from the waiting jury panel.
Two defense attorneys asked for a continuance to have extra time to adequately prepare with new information presented Wednesday during the pretrial motions. Another defense attorney requested that his client's case be severed because "two star prosecuting witnesses" will testify that his client was not present at any of the moments of the charged crime.
Bittner did not agree to grant either motions. He did however give the attorneys an additional day to work with any new information obtained Wednesday, by ordering them to pick a jury Thursday and then present opening statements on Monday. Initially, the attorney would have selected a jury and immediately present opening statements to the panel. Then witness testimony would begin going through Friday and continuing on Monday and the remainder of the week.
The judge did not respond either way to a request by one of the defense lawyers to clock a defense witness with immunity from self-incrimination so she would testify at trial. Initially that witness was charged and to be among the defendants at trial. Her case was severed.
The crime
The crime crossed Cambria and Somerset counties lines, involved kidnapping and torture and shooting to death of two friends, James Smith, of Portage, and Damian Staniszewski, of Duncansville, in March 2017.
The defendants are accused of various roles in torturing the two friends in the basement of a Johnstown house, and then driving Smith and Staniszewski to a wooded area along Ligonier Pike in Conemaugh Township where the men were shot to death.
Smith and Staniszewski allegedly stole a large quantity of drugs and money from a “stash house" in Johnstown belonging to a member of the East Main Money Gang based out of Columbus, Ohio.
The defendants
Devon Lee David Wyrick, 28, Hollidaysburg, formerly Columbus, Ohio, was severed from the cases and trial regarding the co-defendants by Judge Scott Bittner Thursday morning in response to a request for him to do so.
Samson Ezekiel Washington, 30, Johnstown
Deandre Callender, 29, Somerset
Marekus Edward Benson, 32, Johnstown
The Jury
About 100 county residents, out of an original summons of about 250, are prospective jurors were chosen by Thursday afternoon, according to Somerset County Court Administrator Tammy Escalera.
Day 2: A jury picked, a defendant severed
Seven females and five males will sit on the jury with two males and two females selected as alternates by late afternoon on Thursday. Over the next week, those Somerset County residents selected to sit on the jury will hear opening statements by defense and prosecuting attorneys. Next will be testimony by witnesses from both sides that may include the defendants, who are not legally obligated to testify. Up to seven witnesses a day may be heard, according to court documents. Following comes closing statements by both sides before the presiding judge charges the jury on the crimes they will consider in the case. Jurors must find each defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of all the elements of each crime. Otherwise, they must find them not guilty. Last, the jurors will go into a small room to deliberate and make their decision, return to the courtroom, where their decision will be read aloud in the record by a representative of the county clerk of courts.
The security
Security has been tripled at the Somerset County Court of Common Pleas over the trial that began scheduled for seven days, but could run nine days, depending on how long jury deliberation takes, according to law enforcement officials.
The defendants are alleged to be connected with the East Main Money Gang out of Columbus, Ohio.
The investigation
Family members of Smith and Staniszewski filed missing persons reports with the state police within days of their disappearance. Police found an abandoned vehicle identified by Smith’s and Staniszewski’s families as the one the two men were last seen in together about a half-mile from where their remains would be discovered by a hunter the following September in 2018. Their remains were identified by law enforcement forensics shortly afterwards. Washington and Wyrick were arrested and charged in the case two months later. Benson and Callender were charged in May 2021.
The charges
The three defendants are charged with two counts each, one for each victim, of criminal homicide, kidnapping, unlawful restrain and aggravated assault. All initial four defendants also are charged with two counts of criminal conspiracy to commit the offenses.
The prosecutors
Prosecuting are Evan Anthony Lowry II and Kara Rice of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Lowry started his legal career in the Allegheny District Attorney's Office in 2010 and moved into the Attorney General's Office eight years later. In 2020 he was promoted to senior deputy attorney.
Rice was assistant district attorney in Mercer and Allegheny counties for the past 15 years before becoming a deputy attorney general.
The defense attorneys
Pittsburgh attorney Jaclyn Shaw and Ebensburg attorney Ashlan Clark represents Washington.
Somerset attorney Matthew Zatko represents Callender.
Somerset attorney Patrick Svonavec represents Benson.
Pittsburgh attorney Sally Frick represents Wyrick, who requested and was granted severance from his co-defendants and the trial on Thursday morning.
The judge
Bittner was elected to his position in Nov. 3, 2015. Prior to the election, he worked as an attorney in private practice at the Somerset County law firm Fike, Cascio & Boose.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Two week Somerset County trial: Double murder
