Appeals court won’t grant new trial in murder case
The state Superior Court upheld a decision that a Fayette County man serving life in prison for murder should not receive a new trial.
Charles Green, 33, of Uniontown asked for a new trial last year, claiming he should have been able to access recorded statements given by prosecution witnesses, and that the jury in his case was prejudiced when they were allowed to take a bloody picture of the victim into the deliberation room.
Green was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Michael Watkins, 42, of Pittsburgh, to death at an apartment in Hunters Ridge, Redstone Township on Aug. 20, 2007. At trial, Green’s attorneys argued that the evidence presented was largely circumstantial. Green testified in his own behalf that someone else Watkins, though prosecution witnesses told jurors that they saw Green with a bloody knife and that he threatened to kill them if they told police.
Judge Steve P. Leskinen, who presided over the trial, denied Green’s request for a new trial. The Superior Court’s decision, handed down last week, upholds Leskinen’s decision.