Uniontown man to stand trial for stabbing death
Accused of stabbing a man to death, Nathaniel Stites said Monday in Fayette County Court that he will not accept a plea to first-degree murder and wants to stand trial. Stites, 25, of Uniontown is charged in the death of Christopher Kiss. Uniontown police allege that Stites stabbed Kiss 42 times at Kiss’s Coolspring Street home around 3 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2001.
After allegedly stabbing Kiss, Stites reportedly threatened Kiss’s girlfriend and two other people in the home. None of them were hurt.
Last month, Stites lost a bid to have statements he made to police and physical evidence connected to the killing suppressed.
His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Mary Campbell Spegar, argued that Stites did not understand his rights when police questioned him and was under the influence of alcohol or drugs. After he was arrested, Stites told police that he went to Kiss’s house that night and the two of them got into a fight. In a taped interview, Stites also told officers that he remembered pulling the knife out, but did not clearly remember stabbing Kiss.
Judge Ralph C. Warman rejected Campbell Spegar’s argument, noting that Stites told police four times that he understood what was going on. The jurist also pointed to police testimony that Stites did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol.
Additionally, Campbell Spegar wanted the bloody clothing police collected to be barred from trial. Police arrested Stites while he was reportedly hiding in a camper. Nearby, authorities recovered a garbage bag that contained bloody clothes. The bag was hidden underneath a pile of junk.
Warman said because the bag was hidden Stites did not have a claim of privacy attached to it and ruled the clothing could be used at trial.
Stites may go to trial as soon as April, District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon said.