There have been some developments in several prominent cases in Indiana County Court.
In the Brady DiStefano case, President Judge William Martin has denied the defense’s omnibus pretrial motion, which sought to suppress the search warrant for the former IUP student’s apartment on South 7th Street, to suppress the search warrant for DiStefano himself, and DiStefano’s statement given to police on the day Caleb Zweig died at the Indiana Regional Medical Center in February of 2017. DiStefano was originally charged with homicide for Zweig’s death after the two fought, but Judge Martin dismissed the case, ruling that the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence. State Superior Court partially reversed the ruling, reinstating a charge of aggravated assault but upholding the dismissal of the homicide charge.
In the James Brown homicide by vehicle case, the defendant has notified the court that he would like to file a petition for discovery and inspection and he also wants a copy of his discovery packet. Brown is charged with six felony offenses for crashing a car into Pikel’s Top Tier Fuels in Home last July, killing 52-year-old Melissa Myers of Commodore. He told police afterward that he had taken heroin and smoked marijuana before the crash. As with previous requests by Brown, his petition was forwarded to his attorney, William Stephens Jr.
Finally, there have been a series of sealed entries filed by both the prosecution and the defense in the Charles Cook homicide case. He’s the drifter accused of shooting to death 76-year-old Myrtle McGill at her home along South 6th Street in Indiana in December of 1991. In the last week, there have been four sealed entries filed by the district attorney’s office, two by the defendant’s attorney, and four by Judge Martin. Judge Martin has scheduled a motions hearing for Cook for this Friday. Cook has asked for the case to be dismissed because of the state’s timely trial statute. The trial is scheduled for March 18th.
The DiStefano and Brown cases are listed for Criminal Call on February 1st. The Todd Walters and Nathaniel Price homicide cases are also scheduled for Criminal Call on that date.