21-year-old Justin Stevenson is scheduled to be sentenced today for his part in the murders of a Cherryhill Township couple at their apartment outside of Clymer in October of 2016.
Stevenson pleaded guilty August 24th to two counts of second degree murder. In doing so, he avoided prosecution for first degree murder and a possible death sentence. Another defendant, 20-year-old Nathanial Price, is scheduled from Criminal Call on December 7th. He is charged with two counts of criminal homicide, conspiracy to robbery, and robbery, the same offenses for which Stevenson was charged before his guilty pleas.
Stevenson and Price and 17-year-old Isaiah Scott went to the apartment to make a marijuana buy from Timothy Gardner, but police said Stevenson and Price jumped Gardner and Stevenson beat him to death with a metal pipe. Then, one of the two defendants went upstairs and beat Jacqueline Brink to death with a baseball bat because she would have been a witness. Two children sleeping in the apartment were not harmed. Stevenson blames Price for Brink’s death. Price said it was Stevenson.
Police said Scott served as a lookout but fled the scene when the attacks started. Charges against him were transferred to juvenile court, where they were adjudicated. Juvenile cases are not made public.
District Attorney Pat Dougherty had filed his intent to seek the death penalty against both Stevenson and Price. That intent is still in place for Price, but Stevenson is now facing two life sentences in prison without parole.
Stevenson is on the left in the picture accompanying this story.
