CLEARFIELD – A Houtzdale man accused of killing his mother on March 13 over a computer had all charges bound to court Wednesday after a preliminary hearing.
Jesse James Campbell, 20, is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and simple assault.
The first person to take the stand was Campbell’s girlfriend at the time. She said that Campbell stayed with her but lived with his mother.
She testified that Campbell had two arguments over the phone with his mother regarding money that she allegedly owed him and a computer of hers that Campbell was in possession of. She said that Campbell’s mother, Cindy Jo Coleman, threatened to call the police on both the woman and Campbell.
After one phone call she said that Campbell said, “I want to kill that bitch.”
“I started freaking out,” she said. “I told him not to do anything stupid.”
She said that Campbell hugged her, told her he loved her and that everything would be ok. She testified that they needed cigarettes and that Campbell was going to get them. She said that Campbell dressed in one of her hooded sweatshirts and her sweatpants and rummaged in a cabinet that contained latex gloves.
She testified that before he left, Campbell said, “I’m going to kill my mom.”
“I didn’t think he was serious,” she said. “He was smiling.
While he was gone she went to a neighbor’s house and asked the neighbor and the neighbor’s boyfriend what they would do if someone she knew threatened to kill their mother. Campbell’s then-girlfriend testified that she did not mention Campbell by name, which differed from what a state trooper testified to later in the hearing.
The woman said that when Campbell returned home about an hour later around 2 a.m. that she was upstairs in her child’s room. She said that Campbell walked past naked and got a shower.
She testified that she did not see Campbell get undressed. In the affidavit of probable cause she told police that he had the same clothes on that he had when he left. In the affidavit she reported to police that Campbell took them off inside the door and placed them in a white garbage bag and later told her he was throwing his clothes away and when she asked why, he told her it got messy.
She testified in court that she met Campbell downstairs and asked him what happened. She said he told her things got messy and there was blood everywhere. She asked him what he did. She said that he told her he tried to wake Coleman. She said that Campbell said he went to his mother’s room and came out with a five pound weight.
She said that Campbell told her he then began striking his mother in the face with the weight. He further told her that he began choking her. She said he told her he saw dark blood coming from her nose. She then said that he told her he got a steak knife and began slicing her throat. She continued, saying that Campbell told her his mother was not dead, and began bludgeoning her in the face with the weight again.
“He said he hit her so hard he thought he heard her skull crack,” said the woman.
She said that Campbell said he heard his mother gurgle, that she wasn’t dead and that he sat down next to her and began reading her the Bible.
She said that when Campbell was telling her what happened, he was not crying or upset but shaking a little.
The woman said that Campbell told her to take the trash out, which she did.
Under cross-examination she was questioned about she and Coleman’s relationship. She said that Campbell’s mother basically did not like her since she and Campbell had a sexual relationship when he was 13. She testified that she had not seen his mother in some time.
She also testified that both she and Campbell had taken a pre scri ption drug earlier that day. She also testified that when did not see blood on Campbell, in the shower or in the garbage.
She said that she was crying and did not know what to do. She said they fell asleep on the couch together.
Cpl. Charles Dominick with the state police in Punxsutawney testified that he found the double-bagged garbage bag in a trash bin near the apartment complex. He said the bag was taken to the Clearfield barracks where it was searched. Inside he said were children’s clothes, garbage and the clothes Campbell was reported to have worn during the crime. Also found inside the bag was a stained steak knife partially concealed in a red towel and bloody latex gloves were found in the pocket of the hooded sweatshirt.
DNA samples were obtained and sent to the state police crime lab. Coleman’s DNA matched that of DNA samples taken from the steak knife.
Dominick said that the girlfriend told him that Campbell took an object from her apartment to make the incident look like someone tried to break in. He also said that the woman told him that she told her neighbors about the statements that Campbell made to her.
The coroner’s report reviewed and entered into evidence. It was reported that the cause of death was hemorrhaging and multiple stab wounds, and that the manner of death was homicide. The pathologist’s report stated that Coleman had suffered from a beating and stab wounds and that she also had defensive wounds.
Trooper Kim Ronan testified that while Campbell was being arraigned he struck up a conversation with her. She said that Campbell asked her how much time he was going to get out of this.
Without closing statements from the commonwealth or defense, Magisterial District Judge James Hawkins rendered his decision.
“It will be my decision to return the charges to the next term of court.”
After the hearing Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. said that a decision has not been made yet concerning the death penalty.
“It’s a decision we’re looking very closely at,” said Shaw.
The decision to pursue the death penalty must be made on or before Campbell’s formal arraignment.