Kendrick penalty phase delayed by positive COVID-19 tests
SOMERSET, Pa. – A penalty phase proceeding has been rescheduled in the trial of a former SCI- Somerset inmate convicted of fatally beating a corrections sergeant in 2018.
One 'crucial' participant in the trial has contracted COVID-19 and another participant's spouse has also tested positive, prompting court officials to delay the proceeding by one week, Somerset County Court Administrator Tammy Escalera said.
The capital sentencing phase for Paul Jawon Kendrick, which is now set to begin next Monday, is anticipated to take several days to complete, attorneys have said.
Jurors were notified through the county's automated alert system about the change, Escalera said.
The county switched to a new system earlier this year that enables group notification by email and text messages.
Kendrick is the first person in Somerset County in decades facing the possibility of a death sentence.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and four assault-related charges Friday following four days of trial.
Jurors issued a verdict after nearly three hours of deliberation, convicting him for intentionally killing Sgt. Mark J. Baserman, who was 60.
A jury of nine women and three men who sat for last week's trial will return next week to consider whether Kendrick should face the death penalty or life in prison without parole as punishment for the crime.
Attorneys in the case and Senior Judge Patrick Kiniry spent five days selecting a panel of jurors willing to listen to both sides' arguments.
By law, 'aggravating' circumstances – including the fact that Kendrick was convicted of killing another person in 2014 – and 'mitigating' circumstances that might lessen culpability for the crime must be weighed by jurors before rendering a decision.
The fact Kendrick has also now been convicted of killing a law enforcement official is another aggravating factor jurors will be able to consider.
Under Pennsylvania law, all 12 jurors would have to decide in favor of the death penalty for the verdict to be issued.
Death row listJust one person is on death row for a crime committed in Somerset or Cambria counties.
Stephen Rex Edmiston was sentenced in 1989 for the rape and murder of a 2-year-old child.
Edmiston, now in his mid-60s, was sentenced to death after jurors found that Edmiston took the toddler from Clearfield County and left her body in Reade Township.
The last person to be executed in Pennsylvania was Gary Heidnik, remembered as the 'House of Horrors' killer who raped and murdered women in his Philadelphia basement in the 1980s. He was executed in 1999.
Over the past decade, Pennsylvania has had a moratorium on executions, but 95 people are currently on death row, according to a state execution list.
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Florida No. 2 in gun sales but numbers are dropping here and in the US. Possible reasons
Floridians, and Americans in general, are buying fewer guns. People in the Sunshine State bought just over an estimated 1.2 million guns in 2024, according to the annual report from safety product review site based on data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). That's a 7% drop from 2023. Florida still ranks No. 2 in the country in total gun sales, though, behind Texas (1.36 million). Sales were down nationally as well, where the estimated 16.1 million firearms sold in 2024 were a 3.4% decline from the previous year. The National Shooting Sports Foundation's annual report calculated a lower number, 15.2 million sold in 2024, but also said sales were declining. Sales have declined every year since 2020 after peaking during the COVID pandemic, SafeHome said. Gun sales in Washington plunged nearly 46%. "Some expected the 2024 presidential election to drive a spike in gun sales, but early data from 2025 tells a different story," said SafeHome managing editor Rob Gabriele. "In the first four months of the year, just over 5.29 million guns were sold, averaging around 1.32 million per month. "If that pace holds, 2025 will end with roughly 15.5 million gun sales, a 3.8 percent drop from 2024 totals," he said. "This mirrors the previous year's rate of decreasing sales." However, 15 states saw increases in gun sales, with Massachusetts residents buying 22.5% more of the weapons. SafeHome releases its report every year in time for National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which was June 6. Many Americans wear orange between June 6-8 in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. SafeHome estimates that 389,994 guns have been sold in Florida from January through April 2025, behind Texas with 443,224. But by this time last year, Florida gun sales hit nearly half a million. Florida saw gun sales go up 1% in 2023, the same year the state passed a law to allow permitless concealed carry. The Sunshine State was one of only four states to see an increase, with 1,316,471 estimated sales in 2023, according to the report. FBI report: Active shooter incidents decrease in 2024, list includes Florida I-10 shooter Whlie the answer remains unclear, the record sales during the pandemic may have lowered the demand for now. 'What we saw in 2020 and 2021 were not sustainable from a market standpoint,' Jonathan Metzl, director of Vanderbilt University's Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, told The Trace, a website tracking gun violence. 'But also, many more people have guns now, and so the market of potential consumers is a lot smaller than it was during the pandemic.' Another factor is a Republican president in the White House. Gun sales tend to rise when presidents from the Democratic Party are elected, due to expectations of more restrictive gun laws, weapons confiscation, or fears of violent right-wing suppression. In January 2021, the month rioters swarmed the Capitol to prevent the certification of former President Joe Biden's votes, the firearms industry set a new record of more than 2 million firearms in one month, CNN reported. That was a 75% increase over the number sold in January 2020. Firearm and ammunition sales also spiked during former President Barack Obama's terms. However, gun sales dropped 17% during the first three years of President Donald Trump's first term, The Trace said. Some gun owners may be shifting their focus on accessorizing the firearms they own instead of buying more, Guy J. Sagi wrote for the American Rifleman in February. An October 2024 NSSF press release (now deleted, archived here) reported that American ownership of suppressors is skyrocketing, with as many silencers sold between May 2021 and July 2024 as were registered in the previous 87 years. Other possible reasons for a drop in sales include more restrictive gun laws in some states and inflation pushing firearms farther down the list of immediate needs for many Americans. According to SafeHomes' analysis of NICS data, these are the states with the most firearms sales in 2024: Texas: 1,363,596 (1.2% increase) Florida: 1,224,566 (7% decrease) California: 1,019,136 (2.3% decrease) Pennsylvania: 822,286 (2.3% decrease) Tennessee: 583,750 (7.8% decrease) Ohio: 583,959 (0.1% increase) Virginia: 566,053 (2.7% decrease) North Carolina: 530,083 (6.1% increase) Missouri: 500,885 (3.8% decrease) Michigan: 481,870 (13.3% decrease) Adjusted for population, Wyoming, Montana and Alaska have the highest gun sales rates in SafeHomes' report. "These states have strong hunting traditions fostered by rural lifestyles and less rigid gun control laws," Gabriele said. "The pro-gun cultures and the need for self-defense in such remote areas, which abound in predators that could harm livestock, may also contribute to higher gun ownership and sales." Wyoming: 68,964 (16.1 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Montana: 135,882 (15.9 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Alaska: 79,217 (15.4 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) New Hampshire: 145,700 (13.3 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Oregon: 429,892 (13.2 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Alabama: 460,694 (12.3 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) North Dakota: 65,170 (11.7 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Idaho: 162,079 (11.5 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) West Virginia: 155,421 (11.5 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Oklahoma: 322,315 (11.1 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Tennessee: 583,750 11.1 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) In comparison, Florida saw 7 firearms sold per 100 residents 21 and older. National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which falls on the first Friday in June every year, was established to honor the estimated 88 Americans (as of 2015) whose lives were cut short by gun violence every day, and the survivors whose lives are forever changed. The day, and the Wear Orange movement, began when some Chicago teens asked their classmates to wear orange on June 2 to commemorate the birthday of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton. Pendleton was shot and killed a week after marching in President Obama's 2nd inaugural parade. Orange was chosen because it's what responsible gun owners wear in the woods while hunting to protect themselves and others. Former First Lady Michelle Obama attended Pendleton's funeral and delivered the commencement address at what would have been her graduation ceremony. Former President Barack Obama talked about her death in his 2013 State of The Union Address. The Obamas announced they were honoring the slain student through the Hadiya Pendleton Atrium at the Obama Presidential Center. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gun sales down in Florida, America. Why the decline?
Boston Globe
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- Boston Globe
Firearm death rate for children increased most in N.H., declined most in R.I. since 2010, study finds
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Their finding was that the most-permissive states had the biggest increases in mortality, while permissive states had somewhat big increases, and strict states saw no increase. New Hampshire was classified in the most permissive category. Here, the rate started out relatively low compared to other states, the study found, but has doubled since the Supreme Court ruling. Advertisement Nationally, firearms are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents. But outcomes from one state to another varied widely, according to the study. 'I was horrified for some people, but reassured for others,' Faust said. 'You can have a Second Amendment, but have reasonable safety policies that make it so people can exercise their rights without having any untoward effect on the safety of our communities.' 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In contrast, Rhode Island's mortality rate, with its strict gun laws, declined from 1.2 deaths per 100,000 people down to 0.5 deaths per 100,000 people. Massachusetts, classified as a strict state, has a relatively low rate of childhood firearm deaths, and that didn't change significantly in the years after 2010, although it may have diminished slightly. Its rate went from 0.7 deaths per 100,000 to 0.6 deaths per 100,000, although the change wasn't statistically significant. The study classified Vermont as a permissive state, and its rates rose from 1.1 deaths per 100,000 to 1.8 deaths per 100,000, but the change was not statistically significant. Amanda Gokee can be reached at
The Intercept
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The Intercept Appoints Maia Hibbett as Managing Editor
Support Us © THE INTERCEPT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Intercept welcomes back Maia Hibbett, who is returning to the publication as managing editor. In this position, Hibbett will shape The Intercept's distinctive coverage and oversee newsroom operations. 'We are thrilled to welcome Maia back to The Intercept. Her experience and skills will help us take on powerful interests and produce journalism with real impact,' said Ben Muessig, The Intercept's editor-in-chief. Hibbett was most recently the politics editor for Gothamist & WNYC, where she directed coverage of the ongoing scandals surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams and expanded a statewide coverage network. Before that, she was managing editor at New York Focus and participated in ProPublica's Investigative Editor Training Program. Hibbett served as an associate editor on The Intercept's politics team from March 2021 to October 2022. At The Intercept, she oversaw award-winning reporting on the poultry industry's mass culling practices during bird flu outbreaks, edited investigations on topics from Sen. Joe Manchin's coal investments to the killing of Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres, and reported on controversial research that drew scrutiny during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her reporting and editing experience spans the globe, covering political developments in Asia and Latin America. 'For years, I've admired The Intercept's fearless reporting and commitment to holding the powerful accountable — no matter who is in office,' Hibbett said. 'I'm so excited to return to The Intercept and help this team draw attention to the scandals and injustices that would otherwise go unexposed.' Join The Conversation
