Mistrial request denied in homicide trial
A request for a mistrial was denied Wednesday because the defense attorney in Roberta Gillin’s criminal homicide trial waited to long to object to testimony. Attorney Paul Gettleman waited until state police trooper Daniel J. Venick completely read a statement from Roberta Gillin that was not disclosed beforehand. In the August 1999 statement, Gillin reportedly told police that her 25-year-old mentally retarded, adopted daughter, Helen Gillin’s death, was an accident.
Police, however, allege that Roberta and husband James Gillin killed the girl because Roberta Gillin was angry that her husband was having an affair with the girl. After her death, police allege the couple burned her body in a backyard fire pit at the Bear Rocks home.
Roberta Gillin, 53, of Masontown is charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and two counts of conspiracy.
After Venick read the statement, Gettleman raised an objection and he, District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon and deputy prosecutor Joseph M. George Jr.,moved to a sidebar with Judge Gerald R. Solomon.
During that session, Gettleman requested a mistrial, noting that he could not defend against the statement because he received no forewarning.
But Solomon said Wednesday that he felt the statement was not disclosed by accident, and said that he felt that Gettleman waited too long to lodge an objection.
Solomon barred prosecutors from further using the statement during trial, and said he would caution the panel to disregard its contents.
The trial resumed with Venick on the stand.
He fielded questions from Gettleman about statements made by Mary Jo Overly, the defendant and James Gillin’s natural daughter. Overly told police that her mother gave Helen Gillin a mix of bleach and heart medication and she threw up.
Then, said Overly, her mother urged her father to kill the woman because she was angry that the two were having an affair.
James Gillin, convicted and spending life in prison, stomped Helen Gillin to death. When she did not die fast enough, Overly testified that Roberta Gillin took a knife out to finish the job. The knife was never used, however, because Helen Gillin died.
Gettleman asked Venick about various aspects of Overly’s prior statements, which started in 1995 and continued through 1999.
In them, she told police various time frames for the murder. She also said on different occasions that her mother gave Helen Gillin to bleach drink and gave different locations of people when her sister was allegedly killed.
Jurors also heard the beginning of defense testimony.
Mamie McGinnis of Smock, who identified herself as Roberta Gillin’s “spiritual advisor,” testified that she met Overly one time in the county courthouse during one of the Gillins’ court appearances.
During that meeting, McGinnis testified that Roberta Gillin pleaded with her daughter, “Mary Jo, for God’s sake, if you ever told the truth, tell it now.”
Overly’s response, testified McGinnis, was that she was being forced to testify against her mother and knew that she had nothing to do with Helen Gillin’s death.
“She said that Nancy Vernon and the advocate from the Crime Victims’ Center were making her lie against her mom. I told Roberta, that’s a lie. I know the advocates from the Crime Victims’ Center and they would never pressure anyone to lie,” testified McGinnis.
Under questioning from Vernon, McGinnis said she’s known Gillin for about three years and met her through the church. She characterized them as friends and McGinnis testified she prays for Gillin on a regular basis.
“We pray together and she tells me she’s innocent.”
Amanda Gillin, Roberta Gillin’s 18-year-old adopted daughter, also testified.
She said that her sister, Helen, was never made to sleep outside or in the garage or basement as Overly testified.
The teen also told jurors that she cut Helen Gillin’s head from pictures because her sister used to destroy her baby dolls.
Roberta Gillin is expected to take the stand on her own behalf this morning when the trial resumes at 9 a.m.