CLEARFIELD – The case against a state prison inmate accused of killing his cellmate was back in Clearfield County Court.
Lawrence Edward Peterson Jr., 44, an inmate of the state prison is charged with criminal homicide, murder of the first degree, murder of the third degree, aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person. District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. has stated he will be pursuing the death penalty in this case.
The charges were filed after an incident at the prison Aug. 2, 2013 when Peterson allegedly beat William Keitel until he was unconscious. He died Aug. 11, 2013.
Keitel was serving a life sentence for the murder of his estranged wife, and her boyfriend. He also shot her father during a custody exchange at a convenience store in Ohio Township on Jan. 1, 1998, according to reports from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Peterson is serving a 40 to 80 year sentence for various crimes that happened in Northampton County in November of 1998.
Several motions have been made in this case, some of which were discussed in a hearing on Dec. 19. Many of those were filed by Peterson himself. Discussion on some of these motions was continued to allow the attorneys from the public defender’s office to speak with Peterson. Peterson was brought to the county jail in order for him to meet with his attorneys on Friday.
Attorney Mike Marshall stated in court that he spoke to Peterson regarding why the defense is asking for a mental evaluation. Peterson had also filed a pro se motion of an alibi defense. Marshall said he explained to Peterson what an alibi defense was and that motion was being withdrawn.
According to Marshall, Peterson was now in agreement with the mental infirmity defense and Marshall asked for him to have a mental evaluation. Chris Pentz, another attorney who is working with Marshall on this case, has been looking to get an expert from out of state and is also trying to get more background information on Peterson. He said the earliest they could have a report would be the end of January.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman pointed out that the trial is scheduled for early March with jury selection starting on Feb. 23.
Shaw commented that the defense has had months now to prepare their case. If he received a report from the defense on Peterson’s mental state when Marshall said, it would be very close to the trial date. He noted this would give the prosecution little time to respond or arrange for an expert witness.
“They’ve had six months,” Shaw said. “What have they done?” He continued to complain that every time the case is discussed, it seems the defense has made no progress at all. The preliminary hearing in this case was in July.
Marshall stated that it has been difficult for them to communicate with Peterson, who was not only in state prison, but also in restrictive housing. He noted that it is “not realistic” to think a case like this could go to trial in only six months.
He said after they receive a report from the mental health expert, they may need to acquire additional records on Peterson. All of this is time consuming, he added.
These efforts are preparing for the penalty phase of the trial, if it should come to that, he said. Pentz is going to handle the trial itself with Marshall focusing on the penalty phase during which a jury would decide whether or not Peterson should be given the death penalty.
“There is a good possibility this could be resolved without going to trial,” Marshall noted because he has discussed the option of a plea agreement with Peterson.
Ammerman asked Shaw and Marshall to meet with him in his chambers to discuss the current schedule for jury selection and the trial.
When they returned to court, Ammerman dismissed the commonwealth’s motion to quash a notice of insanity or mental infirmary and a notice of expert evidence of mental condition. If needed, they could re-file this, he said. He gave the defense until Jan. 30 to submit a report and curriculum vitae for any expert that could testify either at the trial or during the penalty phase. All of Peterson’s remaining pro se motions were withdrawn.
Details of the crime were revealed during the testimony in the preliminary hearing from a corrections officer who said that he heard someone yell “he’s killing him up there.” When he arrived at Peterson’s cell, he could see through a window on the door that Keitel was lying on the floor.
At that point, Peterson was sitting on the bed. He notified others that an inmate was down before asking Peterson if he would allow him to handcuff him. Peterson stood up and “stomped him” (Keitel) two or three more times with his foot, the corrections officer testified.
Peterson was ordered to the back of his cell and he complied. Two officers were then able to enter and handcuff Peterson. Medical staff responded quickly and removed Keitel.
Peterson is serving a lengthy state prison sentence for a crime spree in November of 1998 in Northampton County, according to reports in The Morning Call. Peterson was convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl, beating a woman with a paddle until it broke and stabbing another woman with a screwdriver. He later fled from police and was shot in the leg before being taken into custody.
Testimony in his trial revealed Peterson had smoked 36 bags of crack in the time prior to the attacks. For the assault on the girl, he was found guilty of aggravated assault, rape and aggravated indecent assault, but not guilty of attempted homicide. Prior to raping her, he stuffed a rag soaked in a cleaning fluid in her mouth.
Peterson was found guilty of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and robbery in the paddle beating case.
During his sentencing hearing in July of 2000, Assistant District Attorney Teresa Miranda referred to him as “an evil man” and claimed he had never been a productive citizen. Judge Stephen. G. Baratta explained he gave Peterson the maximum sentence of 40 to 80 years because of his lack of remorse, the cruelty of his crimes and his violent behavior. He commented that Peterson was a danger to society.
In December of 2000, Peterson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for his attempt to run down officers who were pursuing him. In exchange for his plea, additional charges of assault for the attack with the screwdriver and for robbing a Dunkin Donuts store were dropped. Peterson received a concurrent sentence of 16 to 60 months in prison for this case, according to published reports.