There is a busy schedule today in the Indiana County courts, with several jury trials on the docket.
Among them is the trial of 26-year-old Joshua Tyler Shepherd of Indiana, who is charged with strangulation, terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and harassment for a domestic violence incident last November at a home on North Sixth Street. Shepherd let pass a deadline last month for any negotiated plea and elected to go to trial instead.
Other defendants scheduled for trial today are:
- 34-year-old Justin David Jones of Indiana, who will have two trials, for theft by deception and for retail theft.
- 33-year-old Matthew Pacconi of Indiana, who will stand trial for possession with intent to deliver, conspiracy to the same offense, and possession of a controlled substance.
- 34-year-old Samantha Jo Teets of Alverton, Westmoreland County, who is charged with theft by deception, conspiracy, receiving stolen property, and bad checks.
- 50-year-old Michele Lynn Donahue of Indiana, who is charged with theft and receiving stolen property.
Two defendants are scheduled to be sentenced today:
- 45-year-old Jeannie Lee manning of Johnstown will be sentenced for guilty pleas to forgery and theft by deception. She had faced thirteen counts of each offense before her plea.
- 24-year-old Austin Hopkins of Saltsburg will be sentenced for a guilty plea to possession with intent to deliver. This case originated in October of last year. Hopkins also faces heroin possession charges in Westmoreland County after a traffic stop by Delmont police in June of this year revealed he had thirty stamp bags of heroin on him. He was a passenger in the vehicle.
