CLEARFIELD – The second day of a re-trial for convicted killer Jack Allen began Tuesday morning. After going through 14 witnesses on the first day, Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. wrapped up the commonwealth’s case against Allen after calling two witnesses.
Allen was previously found guilty of shooting his wife, Theresa Allen, in the back with a shotgun in Lawrence Park Village over 10 years ago, killing her. The case was sent back to Clearfield County after it was found that Allen had not been property informed of his rights in representing himself the first time around.
Shaw called Dr. Douglas Yingling to the stand. Yingling testified that he was the surgeon on call at Clearfield Hospital on July 19. Yingling stated that when Theresa Allen was brought in she had a two-inch in diameter wound in her back and was unresponsive and had no blood pressure initially, though they did get one eventually. Yingling and his team attempted several medical procedures to attempt to save Theresa Allen’s life. During this time, Yingling said that he discovered massive damage to her lungs and liver, and that her diaphragm was essentially absent. Yingling also reported multiple liters of blood in Theresa Allen’s belly.
Yingling also said that he recovered the shotgun wad from her right chest area. Yingling said Theresa’s time of death was around 7:30 p.m. on July 19.
Yingling said that in his expert opinion he believed that Theresa Allen died from massive bleeding and organ damage from close-range gun shot wound.
Shaw’s last witness was Dr. Leon Rozin, former forensic pathologist for the Allegheny County coroner’s office. Rozin said he examined Theresa Allen’s body on July 20, 1995. Rozin described the procedures he went through in performing the autopsy and what he found.
Rozin described much of what Yingling had previously in regard to Theresa Allen’s liver, lungs and diaphragm, Rozin said that in his opinion her death was the result of a single shotgun wound in the back, destruction of internal organs and massive hemorrhaging. In Rozin’s opinion, the death was the result of a homicide. Rozin believed the shotgun was a few feet away from the body because of how the wound’s diameter and lack of satellite wounds.
Allen called witnesses as well Tuesday morning, and called a woman to the stand who was 11 years old at the time of the shooting. He questioned her as to the location of his van at the time of the incident. It appears as though Allen is contesting where witnesses say they saw him park his vehicle at the time of the shooting.
Allen also called one woman to testify that Shaw had called to the stand on Monday. Allen asked the woman if she did indeed see him shoot his wife, which she had testified to on Monday. The woman said that she saw Allen approach his wife with the gun pointing toward the ground and raise the gun. The woman said she looked at Theresa Allen and the gun went off. While she did not see Allen shoot his wife, she said she has not doubt that he did indeed shoot Theresa Allen.
An interesting note at this point is also the fact that Allen asked her if she had taken part in previous proceedings regarding his case.
“Just the one you took us to ten years ago,” said the woman.
This was the topic a topic of discussion between Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman and counsel on Monday. If during questioning by Allen regarding a past trial the judge said he would not grant a mistrial.
Another item of interest is child custody document that was discussed on the record, but not in front of the jury. During discussion it was noted that the document was issued on July 19, the date that Allen is accused of shooting his wife on.
Keep reading GantDaily for more news on the Jack Allen re-trial as it becomes available.