Criminal Call will be held for several dozen defendants today in Indiana County Court. It’s a chance for the attorneys for criminal defendants to update the court on the status of their cases.
Among those on the schedule are two of the four men accused in the execution-style slaying of a Blairsville man. 37-year-old Stanley Boynton of Altoona and 31-year-old Deandre Jones Jr. of Baltimore, Maryland, are charged with criminal homicide and related offenses in the stabbing death of 37-year-old Tryon Howard on September 29th, 2014. At a hearing last summer, both Boynton and Jones denied stabbing Howard, and expressed surprise that an argument over drug money between Howard and another defendant, Michael Eades, turned so violent. According to testimony at the hearing, Jones obeyed Eades’ order to tie up Howard, but did not participate in the stabbing. Defendant Kevin King admitted he stabbed Howard, but at the direction of Eades. Both Boynton and King were offered plea deals in exchange for their testimony against Eades, which might be part of the proceeding today in Boynton’s case. King is scheduled for Criminal Call next month.
The homicide case against 18-year-old Nathan Price is also scheduled for Criminal Call today, but that proceeding might not happen. Judge Thomas Bianco last week granted a defense motion to extend the deadline for filing pretrial motions to April 24th.
Price, 19-year-old Justin Stevenson, and 17-year-old Isaiah Scott are accused of beating to death Timothy J. Gardner and Jacqueline Brink at an apartment along Hillside Drive outside of Clymer last October. Stevenson and Scott are scheduled for Criminal Call next month.
