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Armed homicide witness refuses to give up gun to testify
Wednesday, October 06, 1999 By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Two homicide suspects were held for trial yesterday even though a key witness refused to testify when he was told he would have to part with his gun before entering a courtroom.
The strange turn of events took place at the Allegheny County Coroner's office, where Thomas Craighead and Terrence Coles, both 31, faced a coroner's inquest into the Feb. 6 shooting death of Robert Daniels, 23.
But when the prosecution's key witness -- described as a resourceful and elusive man who fears for his safety -- showed up at the hearing to testify, he was armed with a handgun.
Deputy Coroner Terry Browne demanded that the man give up the weapon, which he is licensed to carry. When the witness adamantly refused, Browne ordered him off the premises.
Cole and Daniels are charged with homcide and conspiracy to commit homicide.
With the key witness unavailable yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Margaret Cassidy asked that his testimony from an inquest that was held Aug. 9 be entered into evidence.
Allegheny County Deputy Coroner Timothy G. Uhrich conferred with City Magistrate Louis Coles who was present to hear testimony about the related charges of aggravated assault, weapons violations and witness intimidation.
The two agreed that the missing witness's testimony would be allowed into evidence.
That drew protests from Craighead's and Coles' defense attorneys, who complained that such a move would violate the Constitutional rights of their clients.
Attorneys James Wymard and David Shrager, representing Cole, and Lee Rothman who represents Craighead, complained that their clients' rights to confront their accuser had been abridged.
The witness had been in the witness protection program operated by the district attorney's office and city police. However, Cassidy said, that has not made him any more accessible.
Out of fear, she said, her star witness has avoided tracking by prosecutors and police.
Rothman protested to Uhrich. "This is an issue of constitutional magnitude," he argued as he demanded Uhrich's permission to seek emergency intervention from Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning.
Manning took a break from a jury trial in an unrelated murder case to hear the attorneys' pleas.
Cassidy explained that she had no control over her witness, even through the witness protection program. She said that she and police had not been able to contact him in person to serve a subpoena to order him to be present yesterday.
"You have a witness protection program and you lose people in it?" Manning interrupted.
"It surprised me as well, your honor," Cassidy answered.
But after hearing arguments, Manning refused to get involved.
"I don't understand why you're here. I don't have the authority to overrule [Uhrich]," he said.
The witness who refused to testify yesterday had testified at the inquest in August that he saw Cole pass a handgun to Craighead the night of the shooting.
He said that he saw Craighead point the weapon at a group of men that had confronted him on Centre Avenue at Enfield Street. And that he watched long enough to see Craighead raise his arm and fire at least one shot.
After that, the witness said, he took cover inside a bar and locked the door.
Based on that testimony in August, Uhrich and Chief City Magistrate William Simmons ruled there was not enough evidence to hold Cole and Craighead for trial on any of the charges.
Less than a month after the August inquest, the district attorney's office decided to refile charges against Cole and Craighead.
Yesterday, Cassidy brought two additional witnesses -- a city paramedic and an Oakland resident who lives near the scene of the shooting.
The resident said she heard shots and looked out her window to see a man being dragged across Centre Avenue into a waiting vehicle and another man, wounded and laying on the ground, getting up and hobbling to the same vehicle.
The medic said he found Daniels and an another man lying in the driveway at Shadyside Hospital.
He said one of the men, later identified as Daniels, was unresponsive and appeared to be dying or already dead.
After Uhrich ordered both defendants to be held for trial, Craighead, who is being held on a retainer in the county jail on unrelated charges, was returned there.
Cole was allowed to remain free on his own recognizance.
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