Trial delayed in brother’s death
The trial of a Jefferson Township man accused in the fatal shooting of his brother was delayed at the last minute after prosecutors obtained letters from the defendant to a woman described as a former girlfriend.
Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle handed down an order late Tuesday afternoon rescheduling the trial of Robert Jay Bauduin until May 9.
DiSalle also discharged the jury that was impaneled in the case but never sworn in.
Bauduin, 47, faces a charge of criminal homicide in connection with an incident Nov. 30, 2013, at the home on Bethel Ridge Road where he lived with his father. His trial was set to begin Wednesday.
Assistant Public Defender Rose Semple, who is representing Bauduin, said in court papers she received a stack of letters totaling more than 200 pages late Friday afternoon and asked DiSalle for more time to review the letters.
She noted prosecutors intend to use portions of the letters – purportedly from Bauduin to a woman named Mary Ann Crawford – against Bauduin at his trial.
Reached Wednesday, Semple declined to go into detail about the nature of the letters and when they were written.
“(Prosecutors) have not yet told me what portions they plan to produce,” she said.
She said in court paperwork that she “has reason to believe that these letters were obtained through a private person acting as a state agent in contravention of (Bauduin’s) Sixth Amendment right to counsel.”
First Assistant District Attorney Chad Schneider wouldn’t discuss the contents of the letters.
”The time frame was within a year following the homicide,” he said.
Court records show Bauduin has been held without bail at the Washington County Jail since he was charged.
A hearing on a motion to suppress evidence that Semple plans to file is scheduled for Friday.
Bauduin admitted to a 911 dispatcher and later state police that he shot his brother, Richard Bauduin Jr., 47, of Colliers, W.Va. Police said Bauduin told them the shooting occurred after he’d been arguing with his father and brother for much of the day.
DiSalle also decided not to allow expert testimony on the effects of alcohol consumption during Bauduin’s trial.
Before jury selection began Monday, DiSalle heard arguments over whether to allow psychologist Michael Crabtree to appear as an expert witness.
Semple contended his testimony would help jurors put statements that Bauduin made in context.
Prosecutors countered that Crabtree wouldn’t have sufficient evidence to form an opinion of Bauduin’s level of intoxication around the time of the alleged shooting.