Father faces trial in death of infant daughter
WAYNESBURG – The trial of a Washington man accused of shaking his 2-month-old daughter to death in 2000 may finally begin this week. Jury selection is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday in Courtroom 1 of the Greene County Courthouse in the trial of Chad Willis Wynn.
Wynn, 23, is charged with criminal homicide in the December 2000 death of his daughter, Destiny. Wynn told police that while he was watching Destiny on Dec. 15, 2000 at a Clarksville home, he became annoyed at her crying, picked her up and shook her at least 20 times before she became quiet.
Destiny Wynn died Dec. 18, 2000, at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh from blunt force injuries to the head, according to autopsy results.
He entered a guilty plea to third-degree murder last August, but withdrew that plea in November and his trial was originally scheduled to begin in February. A pool of 150 prospective jurors was called on Feb. 19, but Greene County President Judge H. Terry Grimes granted a motion by Wynn’s defense attorney, John A. Knorr of Pittsburgh, to allow Wynn to submit to a psychiatric evaluation.
Meanwhile, Greene County District Attorney Marjorie Fox said she would no longer pursue the death penalty against Wynn, after his attorney said a private investigator hired by his firm provided new information that could constitute mitigating circumstances.
At one time, prosecutors had said they would claim at trial that Wynn’s crime involved two aggravating circumstances: the victim was younger than age 16 and the manner of her death involved torture.
According to Greene County Assistant District Attorney Linda Chambers, the prosecution case could last at least five days, with jury selection possibly taking almost two days to complete. While declining to comment further on the case, she did say several of the prosecution witnesses will be doctors from Children’s Hospital.
“It’s hard to anticipate at this point how long it will take, but we will be ready to go full force through at least Friday,” she said.
Fox was out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment.