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Brownsville woman’s murder retrial to begin in Fayette County Court

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

Jury selection begins this morning in Fayette County Court for the retrial of a Brownsville woman who in 2010 was convicted of third-degree murder in her boyfriend’s stabbing death.

Dayna McMaster, 37, is currently serving a 20- to 40-year sentence for killing Clarence Blair III at a remote location near a gas well in Redstone Township in 2009, following an altercation that allegedly took place in a vehicle with witnesses present.

Prosecutors argued that McMaster hid a knife under her leg when Blair was out of the vehicle, and she was in the passenger seat. They contended McMaster could have gotten out of the vehicle, but instead stayed behind to maliciously stab Blair.

In August 2013, the state Superior Court vacated her conviction and remanded the case to Fayette County for a new trial.

At the initial trial and on appeal, McMaster claimed the June 26, 2009, stabbing was an act of self-defense and that Blair had abused her consistently throughout their five-year relationship, according to court documents.

The Superior Court, in overturning the conviction, determined McMaster’s trial attorney should have called witnesses who could testify about abuse she allegedly suffered.

“Testimony of (McMaster’s) victimization and resulting injuries was vital to establishing her affirmative defenses of self-defense and battered person’s syndrome,” the court found. The prosecution has the burden of disproving self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, the judges pointed out.

Furthermore, the court reasoned, “where there has been physical abuse over a long period of time, the circumstances which assist the (trier of fact) in determining the reasonableness of a defendant’s fear of death or serious injury at the time of the killing include the defendant’s familiarity with the victim’s behavior in the past.”

The judges found that witness testimony regarding bruises, black eyes, broken bones and other injuries “was crucial and would have served as substantive evidence which could have created a reasonable doubt of guilt.”

In March, McMaster’s court-appointed attorney, Dianne H. Zerega, filed paperwork asking for bail in the case. In the petition, Zerega noted that McMaster could not be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, since a jury already found her guilty of a lesser degree and prosecutors cannot seek a conviction on a higher degree of homicide at retrial. A defendant facing a potential life sentence is not eligible for bail, and since McMaster is not facing such a sentence, she should be offered bail, Zerega reasoned.

Senior Judge Gerald R. Solomon set bail at $250,000 in April, but no one posted the 10 percent necessary to have McMaster released. She has been serving her sentence and awaiting retrial at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy in Lycoming county.

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