CLEARFIELD – The trial got under way yesterday for an Osceola Mills woman accused of shooting her home care nurse in December of 2012. Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman is presiding over the case.
Marlene Kenjora, 71, of Osceola Mills has been charged with criminal attempt/murder of the first degree; aggravated assault; recklessly endangering another person; and simple assault.
District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. is presenting the case on behalf of the commonwealth. Kenjora is being represented by defense attorney Ron Collins of Clearfield.
The alleged victim, a nurse, detailed her home visit with Kenjora on Dec. 6, 2012. She was employed with Centre Home Care at the time and worked mostly with mental health patients. The alleged victim had a routine home visit scheduled with Kenjora to assist her with re-filling her medications.
On her way, she called Kenjora’s residence and received no answer. She left a voice message on her answering machine after which she called Kenjora’s daughter in California. Kenjora’s daughter, she said, told her to go ahead with the scheduled home visit.
When she arrived, the alleged victim said Kenjora was “irate” with her, as she hadn’t called ahead of time. She proceeded to play her voice message for Kenjora and advised her that she needed to re-fill her pill box. But when she attempted to handle the medications, she said Kenjora became very upset and uncooperative, slapping her hand away from them.
At that point, she attempted to contact Kenjora’s daughter to get her to reason with Kenjora. When she didn’t get an answer, she contacted Clearfield/Jefferson County Mobile Crisis to either assist her with re-filling Kenjora’s medications, or to get Kenjora further psychiatric treatment.
While on the phone with the Crisis worker, she said Kenjora went upstairs. After Kenjora returned to the living room area, she felt “something wet” on her head, which she initially believed was sweat. After feeling her head though, she discovered it was blood and realized Kenjora had shot her.
The alleged victim looked up at Kenjora, who was staring at her and holding a small handgun. She fled the residence to her car, leaving all of her nursing gear behind. The alleged victim proceeded to a neighbor’s residence, told the teen at the door that she’d been shot and asked her to call 9-1-1.
When emergency personnel arrived, the alleged victim said she was transported to the Altoona Trauma Unit. She had emergency surgery to remove bullet fragments from her skull.
She was subsequently hospitalized for two nights and upon release she was prescribed pain medications. She also had follow-up medical appointments with a neurosurgeon and has sought counseling.
Under cross examination, the alleged victim described Kenjora as exhibiting “textbook manic behavior” on Dec. 6, 2012. When asked, she indicated Kenjora had been committed from Nov. 22, 2012 until Dec. 3, 2012 at a psychiatric unit in Brookville.
Kenjora, she said, was committed after her visit on Nov. 22, 2012. During the visit, she felt that Kenjora hadn’t been properly caring for herself and she wanted her to have an evaluation. Upon her release, she said Kenjora’s medications were changed and she refused to see another home nurse from her agency.
When asked by Collins, the alleged victim said it was possible Kenjora’s behavior on the day of the shooting was due to changes or problems with her psychiatric medications.
Dr. Jeannette Capella, a trauma nurse at UMPC Altoona, said the alleged victim was brought into the emergency room with a gunshot wound shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2012. The gunshot wound, she said, was in the left temple area of the alleged victim’s head.
According to her, the alleged victim was awake and alert when she was brought into the ER. Upon examination she found the alleged victim had suffered a skull fracture and also had blood around her brain.
When asked by Shaw, Capella agreed that it’s dangerous for someone to be shot in the left temple area due to its close proximity with a major artery. Under cross examination, she said this artery wasn’t damaged when the alleged victim was shot, and she didn’t have significant bleeding around the brain.
Rebecca Diehl, a surgical nurse at UPMC Altoona, said she assisted with emergency surgery on the alleged victim. During the surgery, she said there were bullet fragments removed from the alleged victim’s skull, and these were turned over to police.
Joy Foster testified that Kenjora, who is her neighbor, called her on the night of Dec. 6, 2012. Kenjora, she said, told her that she shot her nurse. Foster said Kenjora was crying and commenting about shooting herself rather than being handcuffed and taken to jail.
Officer James Ward of the Decatur Township police was on his way into the station on Dec. 6, 2012 when Chief Timothy O’Leary called him. He was directed to respond to a staging area on Ashland Road near Kenjora’s residence. Kenjora, he said, was still inside and police surrounded her residence.
Ward said that Kenjora voluntarily exited the residence and was taken into custody without incident. Twice that night, he said Kenjora spontaneously admitted, “I shot her. I did it. I’m sorry. I snapped.”
At 4:15 p.m. Dec. 6, 2012, O’Leary said he was dispatched to Morgan Run Road for a shooting victim. Upon arrival a resident was assisting the victim who he said was “very alert and coherent.” He contacted dispatch for further backup to surround Kenjora’s residence.
O’Leary said he contacted Kenjora by phone and asked her to exit the residence, which she did. Later that night, he interviewed her at which point she said, “I’m sorry I shot her but I snapped. I didn’t mean to hurt her, but I snapped.”
Yesterday afternoon, the defense called Dr. Cyril Gamis, a psychiatrist who treated Kenjora on two occasions. He treated Kenjora for approximately one month from July to August of 2012 and for a 10-day period from Nov. 22, 2012 to Dec. 3, 2012.
Under direct questioning, Gamis said that Kenjora was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed psychiatric medications to stabilize her mood. He admitted that aggression, anger, impulsiveness, etc. were potential side effects of Kenjora’s medications.
When cross-examined by Shaw, Gamis agreed that Kenjora didn’t demonstrate any signs of psychotic behavior. He said Kenjora was being treated for a “bipolar episode.” Also, Gamis said that during Kenjora’s treatment, she didn’t show any signs of aggression and was tolerant except for having tiredness.
Alicia Johnson, a neighbor, was aware Kenjora had been hospitalized in the psychiatric unit in Brookville. On Dec. 4, 2012, Johnson said she took Kenjora to pick up prescriptions and tried to help her understand them upon returning home.
However, she said Kenjora didn’t recognize the doctor’s name, which was the “light switch” for her mood. Kenjora, she said, didn’t believe the medications were for her and felt uncomfortable with taking them. She said she tried to explain that perhaps it was just the name of the doctor who called in her prescriptions.
“She was frustrated. She was in a frenzy. You couldn’t reason with her,” said Johnson. When asked, Johnson said she wasn’t sure if Kenjora took any of her medications for that night. She said she’d never seen Kenjora that “over the top mad” and in a “mental whirlwind.”
Deborah Thompson, Kenjora’s daughter, was the last witness to testify for the defense yesterday. She said her mother had been hospitalized in July/August of 2012 for her bipolar disorder. Upon her release, Thompson said she hired a home health professional to assist her mother with re-filling her pill box and to make sure she was taking her medications.
In November of 2012, she said her mother was hospitalized again because her home nurse, the alleged victim, felt she needed further treatment. She said as soon as her mother was released on Dec. 3, 2012, she started having problems with her medications.
She said when her mother went to the pharmacy the first time her prescriptions were not ready for her. In dealing with her mother by phone, she seemed to be agitated and confused and she wondered why she’d been released from the hospital.
According to her, CVS Pharmacy hadn’t received the prescription, which the hospital said they faxed in. She said she was concerned as her mother hadn’t taken any medication since Dec. 2. “She was hyper-verbal. She was calling me non-stop. She was a mess,” she said of Kenjora.
When she sorted out the issues with the prescriptions on Dec. 4, 2012, Thompson said she called Johnson to take her mother to the pharmacy. Afterward she said Johnson called, saying there were prescriptions everywhere and they were trying to figure out which ones Kenjora needed to take.
She said that on Dec. 5, 2012, she received a call from the home health agency that Kenjora had cancelled her appointment. She was advised if Kenjora cancelled another one, they would stop providing her with home care services.
When the alleged victim called her on Dec. 6, 2012, Thompson said she explained that Kenjora was confused over her medications. She also noted that Kenjora wasn’t doing very well and not herself at all.
Thompson showed jurors a large bag filled with prescription bottles, saying she wasn’t sure how it was possible for anyone to monitor what Kenjora was or wasn’t taking regularly. Under cross examination, Shaw asked Thompson who was responsible for making sure Kenjora took her medications. She said Kenjora, which is why she hired a home nurse to help her.