Fayette DA wants general criminal homicide charge added to house shooting case
The Fayette County district attorney has requested a general charge of criminal homicide be added to a Uniontown man’s third-degree murder case.
Last week, District Attorney Rich Bower filed a motion to amend criminal information in the case of Ronald “Raz” Andrew Crossland, 30.
Crossland was attending a party along Farragut Street on the evening of Nov. 4, 2016, and was asked to leave following an argument.
After someone pushed him, Crossland brandished a firearm before leaving and allegedly fired shots outside of the building, with one of those striking Jacqueline Nicole Carey in the chest when she went to the window to see what the commotion was outside.
Carey was pronounced dead at Uniontown Hospital, and Crossland was found sleeping on a couch in a home along Searights Avenue a few hours after the shooting.
“The above facts support a charge of criminal homicide,” Bower wrote in the motion, adding that the amendment to the information contained the exact same facts as the original charge, which doesn’t cause any unfair prejudice to Crossland.
A general charge of criminal homicide encompasses murder in the first, second or third degree and voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.
Crossland was charged with murder of the third degree, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure, possession of a firearm prohibited and three drug charges.
Crossland remains lodged in the Fayette County Prison with bail being denied.