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Judge denies plea

By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

A Fayette County judge said Friday that he could not, in good conscience, accept a plea that allowed a Searights man to serve time in the death of a girl at the same time as a federal drug sentence. As a result, Jamal Eddings, 24, withdrew his guilty plea to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol and other related charges in the death of 5-year-old Patience Lanae “Pay Pay” Tunstell of Redstone Township.

The case will be listed for trial.

The plea, entered earlier this month, called for Eddings to serve three to six years for Tunstell’s death.

It was to be served concurrently with a 118-month sentence he is currently serving for federal drug offenses in West Virginia.

Eddings was sentenced in that case two years ago.

Faced with that prospect, Wagner said he couldn’t condone taking someone’s life and not serving any additional time in prison.

“I’ve got a real problem with that,” Wagner said.

Eddings’ attorney, Nicholas Timperio, indicated that the victim’s family agreed to the plea, but Wagner said that wasn’t enough.

“I’ve got a loss of life here. I cannot in good conscience sentence him concurrently. It doesn’t add any time,” Wagner said.

He told Eddings he could either withdraw the plea or plead guilty generally.

The sentence would be within Wagner’s discretion in a general plea

Eddings was driving on Route 40 in Menallen Township about 3 p.m. Oct. 29, 2003, and hit another car head-on near the Torchlight Restaurant, according to court records. Tunstell died one day later.

Lab tests showed that Eddings had marijuana and PCP in his blood.

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