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Life or death? Jury is now deliberating that question in Jacob Holmes homicide trial
Updated Dec 21, 2020;
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Defense attorney Brian Monahan cautioned jurors to think hard before carrying out that sentence, however.
“Your decision is a decision that will weigh heavily upon you for the rest of your life,” Monahan told each juror Monday afternoon.
Jurors started deliberating Monday in Holmes’ homicide trial. The jury convicted the 39-year-old Easton man last week of killing Miguel Aponte. Houck said the 2009 shooting in the Easton Café came in revenge for the shooting death of Holmes’ friend, Jason Oliver, in 2006.
Houck said factors that warrant the death penalty include the fact that Holmes committed a related felony. He was not licensed to carry a concealed weapon, the gun used to kill Aponte. He also put eight people at risk when he fired the six shots into Aponte.
Jury deadlocks, won’t sentence Easton killer to death
Updated Dec 21, 2020;
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Under state law, a lack of a unanimous verdict means the killer is automatically sentenced to life in prison.
Northampton County District Attorney Terence Houck confirmed the verdict just after 8 p.m. Monday. The jury had deliberated for more than three hours.
Northampton County President Judge Michael Koury will impose the sentence of life without parole as well as Holmes’ sentence for conspiracy to commit murder on Feb. 23.
The death penalty phase of Holmes’ trial lasted two days. It took a week for jurors to convict him of capital murder.
Dec 22, 2020
While both Pennsylvania senators voted in favor of a $900 billion coronavirus relief package, neither sounded overly enthusiastic about it. There s a lot I don t like in this package, but the good outweighs the bad in my view, says Republican Pat Toomey. He says the bill is necessary to stimulate an economy harmed by the pandemic. Democrat Bob Casey said the package is nothing more than a band aid. The economic trauma that is here now will be with us for a good while and I think warrant a lot of attention and a lot of policy response, Casey said. The Senate approved the package in a 92-6 vote.
Deliberations on death penalty in 2009 café murder slated
December 20, 2020 GMT
EASTON, Pa. (AP) A northeastern Pennsylvania jury is expected to begin deliberations Monday on whether a man convicted in what prosecutors called a revenge slaying more than a decade ago should be sentenced to death or to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The Northampton County panel deliberated for about four hours last week before convicting 40-year-old Jacob Holmes Jr. of first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Prosecutors said the Easton resident shot 24-year-old Miguel Aponte at least five times in the back after forcing his way into the back door of the Easton Café in 2009. District Attorney Terence Houck said Holmes was seeking revenge for the 2006 murder of a friend. Aponte had been released from prison on charges related to the slaying.