Latest news with #SomersetCountyCourt
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Yahoo
Jury selection to head into fifth day for Kendrick's trial in SCI-Somerset sergeant's killing
SOMERSET, Pa. – Jury selection will head into a fifth day for the capital murder trial of a state prison inmate accused of killing an SCI-Somerset corrections sergeant in 2018. Another full day of questioning of potential jurors Thursday added one more person to the panel. That brings the number of jurors to 11, one short of the 12 needed for a full panel. Paul Jawon Kendrick, 29, is charged with homicide in the case, and would face the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder. Paul Jawon Kendrick This undated photo provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows inmate Paul Jawon Kendrick, accused of fatally assaulting correctional officer Sgt. Mark Baserman on Feb. 15, 2018, at a state prison in Somerset. Kendrick is accused of fatally beating Sgt. Mark Baserman, 60, who died while hospitalized two weeks after an altercation in an SCI-Somerset 'day room.' Another corrections officer was also injured in the incident. Cambria County Senior Judge Patrick Kiniry, who is presiding over the case in Somerset County court, has scheduled a full day of selection Friday to complete the panel and allow attorneys to select four alternate jurors, who would step in to help decide the case if one or more jurors isn't able to complete the task. Court officials have anticipated that the trial, and if necessary a capital penalty phase, could run for two weeks or more once a panel of jurors is seated. Thursday's questioning wrapped up just before 6 p.m. Groups of potential jurors have arrived for jury duty daily since Monday, assembling in a courtroom for instruction each morning before entering a jury room one at a time for individual questioning about their feelings on murder, the death penalty and other topics related to the case. According to Somerset County Court Administrator Tammy Escalera, 42 potential jurors were interviewed or had their questionnaires considered Thursday. Approximately 60 more have not yet been interviewed, and more than half were on deck to appear for jury selection Friday. Somerset County residents called for jury duty can be ruled out by Kiniry following their interviews if they are deemed unable or unfit to fairly serve. But prosecutors and defense attorneys each entered jury selection with 20 preemptive 'strikes' at their discretion, which can be used to rule out a potential juror who is deemed less than ideal for their case. On Thursday, those strikes started adding up, with each side using a handful. Each side has now used 11 strikes, meaning each has nine remaining. As attorneys on both sides have often said, it's their duty to find people who are not only willing to serve on a homicide case – but also would maintain an open mind even if a defendant is found guilty of intentionally killing someone. A suitable juror must then be willing to weigh arguments for a sentence of life in prison without parole or a death sentence – and be willing to cast their individual vote to support their decision. As dozens of potential jurors have told attorneys this week, that's not easy. But that's nothing unusual, defense attorney Edward 'E.J.' Rymsza said after court. The Williamsport attorney has spent more than 15 years defending clients in capital cases. 'Sometimes, it takes weeks to select (a jury),' he said.
