Tag: West Chester University

WEST CHESTER — The attorney for a man whose long-running dispute with a neighbor ended with him fatally shooting the man outside their West Goshen homes wants the Common Pleas Court judge set to oversee his trial to step aside from the case, citing her possible elevation to the federal bench. In the motion, which Wheatcraft heard in court on Wednesday, Green said that the case against Carter was likely to include suggestions that Carter had shot his neighbor, G. Brooks Jennings, for political reasons. Jennings was a Republican committeeman in the township, and Carter, at the time of the shooting, had several anti-Trump signs in his front yard, months after the presidential election. Green said the political nature of the case had been “widely covered” in the local and national media, citing one post on the internet titled, “Democrat Clayton Carter Murders Chesco GOP Committeeman Brooks Jennings.” He stated that the prosecution intended to bring up the political differences of the two men as the cause of the conflict between the two. Whatever differences over local or national politics may have existed between Carter and Jennings, “that is one of the many things the victim and the defendant argued over. The defendant and victim were next-door neighbors. An argument apparently erupted between the two men over a spotlight that Jennings had trained on his own car, parked in front of Carter’s house. Carter acknowledged to police in a later interview that he had shot Jennings, but said it was because Jennings had threatened him with a knife that was found at the scene. Evidence that may come out at the trial was discussed during the pre-trial hearing before Wheatcraft on Wednesday. Ost-Prisco acknowledged that medical reports showed that Jennings had been intoxicated, but questioned whether evidence of his drinking earlier should be permitted.

WEST CHESTER — The attorney for a man whose long-running dispute with a neighbor ended with him fatally shooting the man outside their West Goshen homes wants the Common Pleas Court judge set to oversee his trial to step aside from the case, citing her possible elevation to the federal bench. In the motion, which Wheatcraft heard in court on Wednesday, Green said that the case against Carter was likely to include suggestions that Carter had shot his neighbor, G. Brooks Jennings, for political reasons. Jennings was a Republican committeeman in the township, and Carter, at the time of the shooting, had several anti-Trump signs in his front yard, months after the presidential election. Green said the political nature of the case had been “widely covered” in the local and national media, citing one post on the internet titled, “Democrat Clayton Carter Murders Chesco GOP Committeeman Brooks Jennings.” He stated that the prosecution intended to bring up the political differences of the two men as the cause of the conflict between the two. Whatever differences over local or national politics may have existed between Carter and Jennings, “that is one of the many things the victim and the defendant argued over. The defendant and victim were next-door neighbors. An argument apparently erupted between the two men over a spotlight that Jennings had trained on his own car, parked in front of Carter’s house. Carter acknowledged to police in a later interview that he had shot Jennings, but said it was because Jennings had threatened him with a knife that was found at the scene. Evidence that may come out at the trial was discussed during the pre-trial hearing before Wheatcraft on Wednesday. Ost-Prisco acknowledged that medical reports showed that Jennings had been intoxicated, but questioned whether evidence of his drinking earlier should be permitted.