Waynesburg man again convicted of murder
WAYNESBURG – Though George Cameron received a second trial this week in Greene County Court, the result was the same as his first, as jurors found him guilty Wednesday in the stabbing death of David Cumberledge nearly four years ago. Greene County President Judge H. Terry Grimes promptly sentenced Cameron to life in prison without parole, the only possible penalty.
The jury of seven women and five men took less than 90 minutes to arrive at their verdict of first-degree murder against Cameron, who was accused of stabbing Cumberledge 16 times just after midnight Aug. 5, 1999, after a dispute with Cameron’s then-wife Lisa at the couple’s 291 E. High St. apartment.
Cumberledge’s family wept and embraced as the verdict was announced, culminating a repeat of a chapter in their lives they thought had already closed.
Cameron was tried three years ago and convicted of the murder, but the state Superior Court overturned his conviction earlier this year, ruling that an audiotaped confession he made hours after his arrest should have been entered into evidence at the first trial.
That tape was not introduced into evidence or mentioned during this week’s three-day trial, although two Waynesburg Borough police officers testified Tuesday that Cameron knew whom he stabbed and said, “That’s what happens when someone pulls a knife on me,” while in custody at the state police barracks in Waynesburg.
During closing arguments Wednesday morning, Public Defender Harry Cancelmi told the jury that while Cameron stabbed David Cumberledge, he did so because he was provoked after seeing his wife, who had filed for divorce days earlier, walking around Waynesburg and holding hands with Cumberledge.
Cancelmi said that Cameron uttered the infamous quote at the state police barracks because he felt he was being attacked and had to protect himself.
He said that while George and Lisa Cameron were having an argument in their apartment that evening, George opened the apartment door and encountered Cumberledge, who had followed the two.
“We don’t know much about probably the most important person in this trial, Mr. Cumberledge. We didn’t hear about what he was like,” Cancelmi said. “But we know his dying breath was, ‘Help me. I love you, Lisa,’ and he was the subject of the discussion between Lisa Cameron and George Cameron.”
Cancelmi said Cameron had been upset over the fact that his two-month marriage was ending and was angered by seeing Cumberledge and Cameron’s wife spending time together. He said Cameron had not intended to kill David Cumberledge, and he told the jury to consider manslaughter charges or acquitting Cameron.
“If you come up with any verdict of guilt, it will be manslaughter, because his stabbing of David Cumberledge was based upon his being provoked suddenly and intensely over a period of time by the actions of David Cumberledge,” Cancelmi said. “If Mr. Cameron wasn’t justified, what crime did he commit? It cannot rise to the level of murder.”
Greene County First Assistant District Attorney Linda Chambers said the case wasn’t about anger or passion, but first-degree murder. She said Cameron saw Cumberledge as he was leaving the apartment and knew what he was about to do next.
“He reached behind, grabbed that knife, grabbed David Cumberledge, pushed him, stabbed him and continued to stab him until he died,” she said. “There was no self-defense.”
Chambers said police found no weapons near Cumberledge’s body and no evidence of an attack on Cameron by David Cumberledge. She said the only crime Cumberledge was guilty of was standing outside the Camerons’ apartment to ensure that his friend Lisa was safe.
“When it comes to a situation where a man and a woman don’t want to be together, they get a divorce,” Chambers said. “You don’t stab people 16 times.”
She said Cameron knew that Cumberledge would follow Lisa wherever she went with George Cameron and knew that he would be at that apartment building while the two had an argument.
“When he leaves, he opens the door and there’s his opportunity, there’s David Cumberledge. He takes the opportunity and murders him,” Chambers said. “When he raised his knife, he had the intent to kill Dave.”
Chambers introduced evidence that included two knives, one with blood on the blade, a shirt, pants and socks that had bloodstains. A DNA analyst from the state police regional crime laboratory in Greensburg said the blood on the sock matched that of Cumberledge, and most of the samples taken from the knife and pants contained Cumberledge’s blood.
Chambers embraced Cumberledge family members after the proceeding and said that although it had been four years since the stabbing, witnesses who were forced to relive those events again in court this week had not forgotten them.
“When you live in a town like Waynesburg, you never forget something like this,” she said. “But the Cumberledge family didn’t deserve to go through this again.”
Chambers said that the Cameron trial in March 2000 was her first as a prosecutor, and she used every piece of evidence available to her then, but in the three years since, she did not need it for the retrial. She said she is hopeful that Cameron will not return to Greene County Court after his second trial, especially for the sake of the Cumberledge family.
“For these guys, I hope we never do it again, and I hope this brings finality for them,” she said. “I am happy about the verdict, but I wish we could bring back a brother and a son to these people.”
“Maybe we can let Dave rest in peace,” one of Cumberledge’s family members said.
Cameron was returned to the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale after the trial.