Duncan sentenced to life in prison
Christopher Duncan, convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Michael “Scooter” Jointer, was sentenced Tuesday in Fayette County Court to spend the rest of his life in prison. The 18-year-old Uniontown man, who shot Jointer in the head at the corner of Dunlap and Coolspring streets in Uniontown on Jan. 31, 2005, said nothing before the mandatory sentence was imposed.
Duncan claimed he shot Jointer, 19, of Redstone Township, in self-defense, but jurors rejected that claim, finding that the killing was premeditated. Such a finding was necessary in order for the panel to convict him of first-degree murder.
In addition to murder, they convicted Duncan of carrying a firearm without a license on July 12.
Testimony at the trial indicated that the shooting was preceded by a confrontation between Jointer and Duncan’s older brother on Jan. 6. Several people testified that Jointer went to the Uniontown home of Duncan’s mother and shot at several people on the porch.
Duncan claimed that about one week later, he saw Jointer at a Uniontown housing project and Jointer pulled a gun on him. Duncan testified he ran to the nearby home of someone he knew.
On Jan. 31, a prosecution witness testified he sold Duncan the .380-caliber gun he used to shoot Jointer. According to testimony from both the prosecution and the defense, Duncan and two others ran into Jointer and two others at the corner of Dunlap and Coolspring streets around 7 p.m.
Jointer asked Duncan’s older brother, Charlie, if there was a problem between them, and after Charlie Duncan said there was not, testimony indicated that Christopher Duncan fired a single shot into the side of Jointer’s head.
Duncan testified he was in fear of his life and thought Jointer had a gun and was going to shoot him or his brother.
While police found a box of .25-caliber bullets on Jointer’s body, they did not find a gun.
President Judge Conrad B. Capuzzi also sentenced Duncan to six to 24 months in prison for carrying a firearm without a license, but ran the sentence concurrently to his murder conviction.
Capuzzi ran the sentences in this case consecutive to a 10- to 24-month armed robbery sentence Duncan is currently serving. Duncan and two others broke into a Searights Village home in Menallen Township three days before he shot Jointer and hit one of the occupants of the apartment in the face with a pistol.
The men took a Sony PlayStation, a DVD and a 14-week-old pit bull puppy.
Duncan will be classified at the State Correctional Institution at Greene. One of his older brothers, Brandon, is currently serving 20 to 40 years behind bars for third-degree murder at the state institution in Graterford.