Convicted of first-degree murder by jury
Jordan Clemons, 26, enters Washington County Courthouse for the start of his trial in the death of Karissa Kunco. Clemons was convicted of first-degree murder Monday.
Karissa Kunco
Karissa Kunco’s stepfather, Donald Makowski, left, and mother, Kathy Makowski, center, leave Washington County Courthouse Monday after jurors found Jordan Clemons guilty of first-degree murder in their daughter’s slaying.
Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone talks to the media Monday after the first-degree murder conviction of Jordan Clemons in the death of Karissa Kunco.
Friends and family of Karissa Kunco are shown Monday in Washington County Courthouse after Jordan Clemons was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Kunco in 2012.
A Washington County Court jury needed only an hour and 15 minutes of deliberations Monday before finding Jordan Clemons guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal killing of Karissa Kunco in 2012.
Cheers and tears erupted as the forewoman read the jury’s decision. Clemons did not react. He was removed from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother, Freda Thorpe, sobbed. The jury also found Clemons guilty of aggravated assault, access device fraud, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Outside the courtroom, Kunco’s family and friends celebrated. Some chanted “three long years,” while others cried and embraced. The family declined to comment until the penalty phase of the trial is over.
Ten sheriff’s deputies were present to ensure order both inside and outside the courtroom. Members of the jury were escorted out of the courthouse by deputies. They will return today to begin hearing arguments on whether Clemons should be sentenced to death for the murder. All 16 members of the panel – four are alternates – are required to return for the penalty phase.
District Attorney Gene Vittone and First Assistant District Attorney Chad Schneider declined to comment on the verdict. Vittone could not predict how long the penalty phase might last.
Earlier Monday, during closing arguments, Schneider drove home the fact Clemons willfully and deliberately sawed through Kunco’s throat with a knife, severing all of her major arteries and causing her to bleed to death.
“Slicing someone’s throat four times to where the blade hits the spine, that’s deliberate,” Schneider said in court Monday morning, telling jurors to convict Clemons of first-degree murder, they would need to agree his actions were willful, deliberate and premeditated.
Schneider provided the jury a final look at the events that transpired before and after Kunco’s death. Officials were unable to pinpoint an exact time of death but believe she was killed sometime after 6 p.m. Jan. 11, 2012, in the back of her Toyota convertible.
State police alleged after killing her, Clemons, 26, dragged her naked body into the woods along Sabo Road and covered it with leaves, brush and a tree stump. Kunco, 21, of Pittsburgh, had a protection-from-abuse order against Clemons from Allegheny County Court following a Dec. 18, 2011, assault that left her face bruised and battered. Despite the PFA order, Kunco agreed to meet Clemons the evening of Jan. 11 after he threatened to kill himself, according to social media accounts shown in court.
Her body was found between 11 a.m. and noon Jan. 12 by two land surveyors.
Schneider said after the killing, Clemons drove Kunco’s vehicle around Washington County, stopping to attempt to withdraw money and to purchase an Xbox 360 gaming system from Walmart at Trinity Point in South Strabane Township.
He later crashed Kunco’s vehicle into woods off Gladden Road in Cecil Township and called a friend to pick him up.
“He coerced her into picking him up, had sex with her, killed her and dumped her body in the woods and covered it,” Schneider said. “Then, he drove around and waited for his friends to pick him up.”
Assistant Public Defender Charles Carpinelli, who is representing Clemons along with Deputy Public Defender Brian Gorman, said Clemons was not guilty of first-degree murder. Instead, he asked the jury to consider the lesser charge of third-degree murder.
“He was irrational,” Carpinelli said of his client’s actions.
The defense acknowledged in their opening statements Clemons killed Kunco, but said he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time. Family members and police testified Clemons smelled of alcohol when he turned himself in to state police shortly before midnight Jan. 12, 2012. However, police said Clemons was coherent during questioning.
Little additional evidence – other than a mention of the discovery of some beer cans and a plastic baggie with a white substance in Kunco’s car – was presented to support the defense’s position.