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November 2008 |
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Jury finds Clinger guilty of murder |
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Written by Julie Ciaramella
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Friday, 26 September 2008 |
BROOKVILLE — The jury has reached a verdict.
After deliberating for about five hours, the jury in Jason R. Clinger’s double-homicide trial found him guilty of first- and second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of two Brooklyn, N.Y., residents.
The jury began deliberating around 6 p.m. and returned its verdict around 11:15 p.m. Thursday.
The jury found Clinger guilty of first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of Davon Markeys “Banks” Jones and Dianikqua Arshell Johnson, as well as guilty of kidnapping in regard to both victims.
On the charge of robbery, the jury found Clinger guilty in regard to only Jones, and not Johnson. Also, the jury found Clinger guilty of theft in regard to Jones, but not Johnson.
Now that Clinger has been found guilty of first-degree murder, he could face the death penalty.
The penalty hearing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. today.
Prior to the jury rendering its verdict, Judge John H. Foradora said around 7:48 p.m., the jury asked to see the surveillance video of Clinger checking out items at Wal-Mart. They also asked a question about the differences between first-, second- and third-degree murder, and returned to deliberating around 10 p.m.
Earlier Thursday, defense attorney Blair Hindman and District Attorney Jeffrey Burkett made their closing arguments in the case that continued for its ninth day.
Hindman said Clinger may have used and sold drugs, but that didn’t make him a murderer.
“Jason was involved in a drug crowd. He was a user and would sell a little bit to support his habit,” Hindman said. “You heard Jason Clinger had a big mouth, that he used drugs, but that’s not murder. That’s not kidnapping and robbery.”
But for Jeffrey Burkett, the evidence — especially the blood of the two victims on Clinger’s shoes — points squarely at Clinger.
“It all points to Clinger,” he said. “There is patent, powerful, damning evidence, and it all points to him.”
Attorneys gave closing arguments in the afternoon session, beginning with Hindman. The defense has built its case on what it perceives to be the Commonwealth’s lack of evidence and Clinger’s being framed for the murders Jones and Johnson by either his friends, or drug dealers who were Jones’ and Johnson’s competition in DuBois.
Hindman said the crime scene and evidence were not properly documented.
“Jason had a jacket that he supposedly put his gun in. Shouldn’t you expect that jacket to be fingerprinted if a man killed someone and then put the gun in his jacket pocket? You wouldn’t test that?” Hindman said to the jury.
Hindman also pointed to the testimony of Melvin “Sunnie” Bohrer III as a cause of reasonable doubt in the case. During cross-examination testimony last week, when Hindman asked Bohrer, “Did you kill Banks?” Bohrer replied, “He was my friend. Spike (Clinger) was (also) my friend.”
The defense focused on what it believes to be a dearth of evidence, such as the absence of blood inside the Chevy HHR allegedly used in the crime, and the lack of fingerprints on a revolver and items found in a sock and a garbage bag.
“You’ve heard experts, and you know there would be mud and blood on the floor of that car — there would be blood everywhere,” Hindman said.
Hindman also spoke of other witnesses — namely Geri Nelson, Rick Dotza, Jessica Calderelli, Jeff Shenkle, Karen Tabaczko and Bohrer’s nephew, Jeremy May — saying, “Those people told you lie after lie after lie.”
“Geri Nelson called Jason and told him Banks was dead, and Jason said, ‘What?’ Then Geri ran off to Texas,” Hindman said.
A revolver, shell casings and disassembled cell phones belonging to the victims were found in a drawer in Clinger’s apartment when a search warrant was executed days after the crime. Clinger had returned from a trip to Maryland for Thanksgiving and came home to find Pennsylvania State Police waiting for him.
“What if people thought, ‘Well, Jason is away, so let’s put this stuff in his drawer?’” Hindman said.
“There’s guys from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Brooklyn coming up here to sell crack cocaine,” he said. “Don’t you think they’re going to fight over territory? In this drug culture, people know each other, and they’re in competition. And let’s look at who ran away from police: Hood, A.K. and Geri Nelson.”
Claudell “Hood” Gillis and Jevon “A.K.” Everett were drug dealers from Pittsburgh also selling crack in the area in 2006. Hindman said Gillis and Everett had cause to kill Jones and Johnson because they were competition, part of a drug war in DuBois.
“Hood came in this courtroom acting meek and mild, but he’s not,” Hindman said. “He’s a piece of garbage, a violent drug dealer, and he put his girlfriend in the hospital. And he said his girlfriend came up here sometime on the 20th or 21st of November to bring him back to Pittsburgh, but she didn’t.”
Melissa Lane, Gillis’s former girlfriend, testified earlier in the day. Lane said she did not pick up Gillis and Everett to take them home because a few days prior, she had ended a five-day hospital stay after Gillis abused her.
Hindman said that Gary “Joe” Frye and Bohrer, who were in a romantic relationship at the time, assisted in the murders. He also said the Commonwealth’s claim that the murders happened in broad daylight sometime between 4 and 4:30 p.m. was “ridiculous.”
“The Commonwealth put their eggs all in one basket by saying Jason drove to this strip road in broad daylight and committed these murders without getting one drop of blood in that car,” Hindman said.
He ended his argument saying, “With all my heart and soul, I ask you to acquit him.”
During the Commonwealth’s closing argument, Burkett focused on what the Commonwealth believes to be the facts of the case, shooting down the defense’s charge that Clinger was framed and people he knew conspired against him.
“The defense counsel wants you to look at every piece of evidence and ask, ‘Does that prove it by itself?’ The Commonwealth doesn’t want you to look at the little pieces; it wants you to look at everything,” Burkett said, addressing the jurors.
Mentioning a gun and a Wal-Mart receipt found in one of Clinger’s drawers, Burkett said, “You cannot get around the fact that the gun and the Wal-Mart receipt point to the crime, and they were found in a sock in one of Jason Clinger’s dresser drawers.
“I’ve been working here for 11 years, and I will never get over defense attorneys acting like really damning evidence is no big deal,” Burkett said.
Burkett, going through a list of what the Commonwealth believes points to Clinger’s having committed the crime, spoke about a statement given to state police by Clinger’s younger brother, Kyle “Wyote” Clinger. In that statement, Kyle wrote that two days before the shootings, Jason asked him, “What do you think about killing two n——-s and taking their drugs and money?” Burkett told the jury to notice that Clinger specifically said two drug dealers.
“When Jason talked to Geri Nelson about it, he even said, ‘Yeah, we could do that to Banks,’ and he told Scott Moldenauer, ‘I’m going to kill some n——-s,’” Burkett said.
“Attorney Hindman attacked Joe and Sunnie, saying they were in conspiracy to murder Jones and Johnson,” he said. “If you believe what Joe Frye told you, Clinger is cooked. These guys were his closest friends. He called them from jail, and said ‘I love you’ multiple times, and said he was going to call them again later to tell them how much he loved them.”
Using previous testimony regarding cell phone records, Burkett showed the jury that Jones re-upped the minutes on his phone at 3:53 p.m. Nov. 21, 2006, and that all of his calls after that went straight to voicemail. Burkett also showed records of Clinger’s phone accessing Tower 190 near the crime scene between 4 and 4:30 p.m., lining up with the time the crime took place; for the rest of the day, Clinger’s phone had accessed Tower 33 in DuBois.
Johnson was on her phone from 4:02 p.m. to 4:19 p.m., and after that time, her phone did not make or receive any more calls. Burkett said that places Clinger, Jones and Johnson at the scene of the crime at 4:20 p.m., which matches a time-distance study from Jeff Shenkle’s home at 505 Clinton Ave., DuBois — the place of departure — to the crime scene.
“There was enough time to get Banks out of the car and shoot him, and then Johnson started running because she saw what was happening,” Burkett said. “So Clinger shot her in the back, goes and takes Banks’ money, then drags Johnson off the road. Johnson still had money in her front pocket, but Clinger didn’t think about her money because he was in a hurry.”
A focus of the Commonwealth’s case is DNA evidence, specifically on Clinger’s shoes. The shoes worn at the crime scene were found in a garbage bag containing other evidence; the Rockport shoes were in a box for brand new Doc Martens that Clinger had purchased with Bohrer sometime around 6:45 p.m. Nov. 21, 2006.
“The killer had those Rockport shoes on, period,” Burkett said. “The right shoe had the blood of Davon Jones, and the other shoe — the left shoe — had Johnson’s blood. The other DNA on that left shoe was Jason Clinger’s.”
Burkett stressed the importance of DNA evidence.
“He had their DNA on his shoes,” he said. “You don’t hear attorney Hindman talk about how the victims’ blood was on Clinger’s shoes.”
“Clinger killed these people,” Burkett said. “Who said two days before the shootings that he wanted to kill black drug dealers and take their money? Clinger.”
Regarding the defense’s stance that Clinger was framed for the crime, Burkett said, “You’re telling me these people got him to buy tire jacks, brand new shoes and somehow got him in Tower 190’s range at the right time, then got his shoes and traipsed around the crime scene with his DNA, and after that, got him to make calls that would put the phone in his hands at the right time? That’s a brilliant conspiracy.”
Prior to closing arguments Thursday, James E. Baranowski continued his testimony from Wednesday.
Burkett questioned how long it had been since Baranowski had processed a homicide scene, and Baranowski said it had been 18 years.
Burkett also took issue with the length of Baranowski’s report, which was “one page and two lines on the next page,” Burkett said.
Baranowski admitted he did not go to the crime scene until Sept. 14, 2008, and had looked only at photographs to determine his opinion: That Jones and Johnson were not killed at the scene, and their bodies had been dumped there.
“You come here to court with a very imperfect knowledge of what that crime scene was like,” Burkett said.
Also testifying for the defense was William Conrad, a firearms expert who said that the type of bullet used in the shooting was a “common type,” and “there is no way to determine that the bullets came from that gun:” A nine-shot .22 revolver.
“There are hundreds of different types of firearms that would have these bullets,” Conrad said.
Editor’s Note: Tom Chapin contributed to this report.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 27 September 2008 )
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 |  |  |  |  | CRANBERRY CHICKEN MARGARITA INGREDIENTS: 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves& 2 tablespoons olive oil&Coarse salt&1 small garlic clove, minced&1 cup Ocean Spray?? Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce&3 tablespoons tequila&1 teaspoon lime juice&1 1/2 tablespoons chopped cilantro&Lime wedge DIRECTIONS:Slice breasts in half horizontally. Pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin to about 3/8-inch thickness.&Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove chicken to a warm serving platter and sprinkle lightly with coarse salt. Cover loosely with foil; keep warm until serving time.&Add garlic to skillet and cook over low heat 1 minute. Stir in cranberry sauce and tequila; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer 5 minutes or until sauce isthickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in lime juice and cilantro.&Spoon some of the sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with additionalcilantro, if desired. Serve immediately with remaining sauce, lime wedges and coarse salt. Makes 6 servings. – Rita Elliott (Mahaffey, PA) INGREDIENTS * 1 small sugar pumpkin& * 3/4 cup packed brown sugar * 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon* 1 teaspoon ground ginger* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves * 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 2/3 cup real maple syrup* 1 1/4 cups half-and-half cream * 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour * 3 eggs * 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) 2. Cut up pumpkin, and remove seeds. Place in large baking pan, and cover with foil or lid. Bake for 1 hour, or until very tender. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) 3. Scrape pumpkin into a food processor; puree until smooth. Measure 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt. Stir in maple syrup, half-and-half, and flour. Mix in eggs one at a time. Pour filling into unbaked pie shell. 4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until center is set. – Rita Elliott (Mahaffey, PA) Good morning i am a punxsy native moved to arkansas 6 yrs ago
i got my family all in pa and we use to have a big family tradition on thanksgiving
day how we would sit around the good old cold stove and tell stories of our child
hood days i always loved it when there was snow on the ground would go out and play
in it with my neices and nefews now they got older they got kids just seem to me it
was only yesterday but i want to wish all my family bk in punxsy a happy
thanksgiving god bless you all wished i was home love always linda and kenneth west
my son. - Linda Bartlebaugh (Wynne, Arkansas)
Hello to all my family and friends in Punxsutawney, PA! I
loved growing up in Punxsy and have many fond memories including eating delicious
meals at Grandma's house and playing football in the big field. At my uncle's house
we thought it would be fun to sit with our back to the fireplace but it soon
became too toasty! He always served homemade noodles along with the typical
Thanksgiving family recipes. Having a large family is wonderful and being able to
share holidays with those we love and hold dear is a special memory I will always
treasure. There's nothing like small town living! - Gina Irving (Burke, VA)
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