Crime scene photos shown
Tara Kinsell/Observer-Reporter Jason Roe enters court on the first day of his trial for the homicide of Cordele Patterson.
Tara Kinsell/Observer-Reporter Lana Roe steps off the elevator prior to entering the courtroom for day one of the trial against her and her husband, Jason, for the death by homicide of Cordele Patterson of Grindstone.
WAYNESBURG – Testimony in the homicide trial of a Daisytown couple charged in the death of Cordele Edward Patterson Aug. 14, 2012, began Wednesday with the victim’s mother, Vivian O’Neal Russ, taking the stand.
With a poster size enlargement of her son’s high school photo within view of the jury, Russ talked about her first born, breaking down at first. When asked by defense council why this was the photo she chose of Patterson, who was 38 at the time of his death, she said this was the picture she “always” carried in her wallet.
Russ said she didn’t know Jason and Lana Roe until after her son’s death. He had moved to Daisytown from Grindstone, where she lives, about four years before his death, Russ said. She visited him in his home in Daisytown but never encountered the Roes on those occasions, she told the court.
Russ admitted her son had “societal problems,” including run-ins with police and a problem with marijuana starting in his mid-20s but, “he was a good person,” Russ said. “I loved him.”
Pennsylvania State Trooper Jason Altman of the forensic services unit testified for much of the morning.
Altman photographed the scene the day of Patterson’s death both inside and outside the cabin where his body was found in Wayne Township.
Altman showed photographs depicting spent shell casings along the path leading to the cabin, a pair of broken sunglasses, distances between the cabin and the roadway and the setup of the cabin itself. The cabin, located off Strawn Hill Road, is not visible from the road. It is hidden a distance up two paths and behind trees.
Images of Patterson’s body and his wounds were also shown to the jury. Altman said there was an opened cell phone and a black hat in his left hand and a lighter in his right when he was found by police. A nearby portion of paneling, in the vicinity of Patterson’s feet had holes in it and what was referred to as “red staining.”
A bag on the counter contained mail addressed to Patterson, as well as articles of clothing, ostensibly belonging to Patterson.
Cpl. John Weaver, a state police reconstructionist, testified about the work he did creating a scale drawing of the scene, including the areas outside of the cabin. His testimony was followed by Trooper Charles Morrison, a forensics services member, who showed the jury the actual pieces of evidence portrayed in Altman’s photographs.
Two handguns found in the white 1999 Jeep that Lana Roe drove to a residence two miles from the cabin were introduced. He also showed them an empty box for a Mossburg 12-gauge shotgun and ammunition found inside the Jeep. Red streaks on the driver’s door and the steering wheel cover of the Jeep were shown in the photos.
One piece of the paneling removed from the cabin had 16 holes, about the size of a pencil eraser, scattered in about a one-foot perimeter. The defense asked about the location and condition of shell casings along the pathway to the cabin, as compared to those near the shooting target by the lake.
Trial will resume at 9 a.m. today before Judge William Nalitz.