Arthur Whitfield Jr. has asked State Superior Court for an “application to remand”, which if granted would send his case back to Westmoreland County Court for possible retrial. Whitfield, 55, has also requested the appointment of counsel to represent him in further court proceedings as he seeks to rescind guilty plea in the shooting death of his former girlfriend, 36-year-old Holly Sloan George in December of 2013.
George was shot eight times by Whitfield after he burst into her home in Derry and found her in an upstairs bedroom watching TV with her 15-year-old daughter. After numerous delays in the case due to mental health issues, Whitfield finally pleaded guilty in June of 2016 to second degree murder, burglary, and firearms offenses, saying at the time that he wanted to spare George’s family the ordeal of a trial.
He later appealed to Westmoreland County Judge Christopher Feliciani to withdraw the plea, claiming that he was coerced by his public defendant into pleading guilty, but the judge ruled that his apology to the family showed he knew what he was doing. The judge also ruled that Whitfield has exhausted his right to an attorney, but Superior Court reversed that portion of the ruling, saying that since pauper status had been previously granted and had not been formally revoked, it was still intact.
Whitfield lived in Josephine, in Indiana County, at the time of the shooting. He was found walking along a road near George’s home hours after George was shot. She died weeks later.
