HOLLIDAYSBURG Two Claysburg parents were sentenced Wednesday to five years’ probation after rendering no contest pleas to endangering the welfare of a child. Blair County Judge Jackie Bernard handed down the sentences to Seth Allen Dicken, 24, and Jamie Lynn Ellis, 23, to address a case that developed in November 2020, when a three-month […]
HOLLIDAYSBURG An Altoona woman whose malnourished six-week-old infant was near death when found nearly three years ago by a county child welfare caseworker was sentenced Tuesday to five to 20 years in jail. Blair County Judge Jackie Bernard imposed the negotiated sentence on Katie Lynn Rowles, 32, who rendered guilty pleas in December to […]
An Altoona man who was sentenced to life in prison 17 months ago after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of a 16-month-old child now wants to withdraw his plea, stating he was “forced to plead guilty in fear of no other avenue.” Drue Scott Burd, 25, was sentenced to life without parole […]
HOLLIDAYSBURG Defense attorneys for a Frankstown Township man accused in the 2021 stabbing death of his 24-year-old brother have started to initiate appeals to a November judicial ruling. Attorneys for Vasudev Aswathappa, 20, who remains incarcerated in the Blair County Prison on homicide and related charges in the death of Suryadev Aswathappa, filed a […]
HOLLIDAYSBURG Prosecutors can use a Frankstown Township man’s statements to state police, including his alleged confession, while addressing homicide and related charges in the 2021 stabbing death of his 24-year-old brother. In a decision handed down Monday, Blair County Judge Jackie Bernard declined to suppress the use of Vasudev Y. Aswathappa’s statements to state […]