Three motions hearings are scheduled before Judge Thomas Bianco in Indiana County Court today. Two of them are rescheduled hearings from prior dates.
31-year-old Timmy Betts Jr. of Robinson is charged with forcible rape and related offenses for an incident in April of last year. A woman reported that Betts forced her to have relations with him despite her protests, and she recorded the audio from it on her cellphone. She called 911 after Betts fell asleep and went to IRMC for treatment several hours later. With the postponement of the hearing last month, Judge Thomas Bianco pushed the Criminal Call listing for Betts to the August session.
Another hearing continued from May is for 21-year-old Mason Jackson of New Brighton, who is charged in the armed robbery and assault of two men at an apartment on South 8th Street in Indiana in October 2015. Jackson is accused of being one of three men who had guns and pistol-whipped the victims. His motion challenges his identification as one of the suspects. One of the victims chose him from a social media photo showing another suspect with a group of friends.
The third hearing today before Judge Bianco is for 42-year-old Thomas Edward Henson III of Homer City, who was sentenced last month to 11-and-a-half months to two years less a day for a guilty plea to attempted indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, with agreement for non-prosecution on charges of corruption of minors, stalking, and retail theft. In October 2016, police said Henson approached a 13-year-old girl at the White Township Walmart and said he’d been following her and wanted to touch her. He then tried to reach up under her dress, but she fended off his advance. Henson fled the store with merchandise he had not paid for. After his sentencing, which also included lifetime registration as a sexually violent predator, Henson filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea and face trial. That motion is the subject of today’s hearing.
