Jury: Duncan guilty of first-degree murder
Christopher Duncan slid off his chair and onto the floor in apparent surprise as Fayette County Court security officers handcuffed the 18-year-old on Wednesday in the wake of his first-degree murder conviction for the death of Michael “Scooter” Jointer. With tears in some of their eyes, members of the eight-woman, four-man jury convicted Duncan of a charge that carries with it life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Duncan, of Penn Street in Uniontown, also was convicted of carrying a firearm without a license.
Duncan testified he shot Jointer in the head at the corner of Dunlap and Coolspring streets on Jan. 31, 2005, but said he did so in self-defense because he was afraid of what Jointer would do.
There was no testimony that Jointer had a weapon when he was shot, although he did have a box of .25-caliber shells in his pocket.
In his closing remarks, Assistant District Attorney Peter Hook told jurors that there was no testimony from any witnesses that Jointer, 19, of Redstone Township, had a gun with him during the confrontation.
Hook acknowledged that there were “inconsistencies galore” in the trial testimony presented. He told jurors their function was “to separate the wheat from the chaff,” and determine which witnesses were credible.
Testimony indicated that Duncan and two other men were walking along Dunlap Street when Jointer and two other men approached him from behind. The groups stopped, and Jointer asked Duncan’s brother, Charlie, if they had a problem with one another.
When Jointer started pulling his hand out of his pocket, Duncan testified he fired a single shot – then ran.
If Duncan’s group was truly scared, Hook suggested to jurors that there was another alternative.
“Run. Don’t hang around. Get away,” Hook told the panel.
But Thomas W. Shaffer, one of Duncan’s defense attorneys, said Duncan reacted the only way he could to save himself and his brother.
He told the panel that Duncan had prior run-ins with Jointer in January that made him fear for his life.
“It was justified for Chris to act the way he did,” Shaffer argued.
Charlie Duncan testified that Jointer asked him if they had a problem with one another. Both Duncans testified that Jointer was moving his hand around in his pocket.
And as Jointer started to take his hand from his pocket, Christopher Duncan testified he fired a single shot.
That shot, from a .380-caliber handgun, hit Jointer in the left side of the head.
“(Duncan) was in fear of having his life taken. …He had no other avenue but to protect his own life, and that’s what he did,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer and defense attorney Mike Garofolo also presented defense witnesses who testified that Jointer shot at Duncan’s mother’s house while he was outside on Jan. 6, 2005. Duncan testified that days later, he was at a Uniontown housing project when Jointer approached him
Although Duncan was 16 when he killed Jointer, he was tried as an adult. His attorneys petitioned the court to transfer the matter to the juvenile court system, and in an opinion denying the request, a judge noted that three days before Duncan killed Jointer, he robbed a home at gunpoint.
Court rules prohibited jurors from hearing testimony about the robbery. Duncan was convicted in court and sentenced to 10 to 24 months for a Jan. 28, 2005, armed robbery of two men at a Searights Village home in Menallen Township.
He hit one of the men in the face with a pistol and, along with two other men, stole a DVD, a video game system and a dog.
This is not the first time Duncan’s family has been involved in a homicide trial. His brother, Brandon Duncan, was convicted of third-degree murder in the 2000 shooting death of Gregory Delbridge.
Brandon Duncan, 23, is serving a 20- to 40-year sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford. Testimony in his trial indicated that he killed Delbridge over a DVD player.
When the group of about 12 people who attended the trial on Duncan’s behalf heard the verdict many wept, calling out in surprise. As they filed out of the courtroom, one yelled out that he loved Duncan.
Jurors deliberated about three hours, and returned about 90 minutes into their deliberations to ask President Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi to redefine first- and third-degree murder.
They returned with the verdict around 3:05 p.m.
Capuzzi scheduled Duncan’s sentencing for 9:30 a.m. July 18. Although the first-degree carries a mandatory life sentence, Duncan still can be sentenced on the firearms charge.