Suspect enters plea in 2003 California homicide
One of three suspects in a 2003 homicide in California Borough Wednesday entered a guilty plea to lesser charges in exchange for testifying against his co-defendants.
According to the Washington County District Attorney’s office, Howard Irwin, 41, of Charleroi entered a guilty plea before Judge Janet Moschetta Bell to one count of hindering apprehension or prosecution, a third-degree felony. He had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of 45-year-old John Lyn Newman, who was found shot to death in his car a block from his California Borough home in January 2003.
“He will be testifying on behalf of the commonwealth against John Ira Bronson and Michael Duncan. He will be sentenced after their trial, which is scheduled for January 9, 2012,” said Alan Benyak, Irwin’s attorney.
Benyak said that as part of the deal, his client, who has been in jail since early this year, anticipates being released at the end the the trial on time served.
Irwin had previously asked that his case be severed from the other two, but the request was denied.
Newman was alleged killed in retaliation for serving as an informant against Bronson in a drug bust, and Duncan allegedly fired the fatal shot.