Thursday, December 2, 2010

Murder Charges Dropped At Pretrial Hearing

SNOW HILL -- Alexander Crippen is no longer charged with the murder of Reginald Jerome Handy Jr. after a Circuit Court judge approved a motion to dismiss the charges at a pretrial hearing.

Deputy State's Attorney Michael Farlow did not object to the dismissal of first-degree murder, first-degree assault and second-degree assault charges against Crippen.

"The forensic evidence would have made it impossible to prove Mr. Crippen is the person who killed Reginald Handy," Farlow said, noting Crippen is still charged with the first- and second-degree attempted murder of Torrance Davis, Crippen's cousin, along with separate first- and second-degree assault charges and other related offenses.

Arthur McGreevy, Crippen's lawyer, said it felt good to get the murder charge against his client dropped. He is focusing on the trial scheduled to begin Monday.

"At the trial, I believe my client will be exonerated of all the charges," said McGreevy. "He was not any of the people firing weapons on that day."

The shooting death of Handy occurred on May 26 at about 10 p.m. in Pocomoke City, when he was shot once in the back before being transported to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, where he was pronounced dead, according to police and court records.

Upon searching the area where Handy was shot, McGreevy says police found six .45-caliber shell casings, six other shell casings and a .223 rifle cartridge.

The deputy state's attorney and defense council put several additional motions in front of Judge Richard R. Bloxom, including allowing audiovisual equipment in the court during the trial, redacting objectionable statements in Crippen's interview transcripts and correcting a typographical error in court documents.

In a July interview, Davis said he and his cousin didn't know Crippen personally before the night Handy died, and disputed police accounts that had Crippen arguing with Handy beforehand.

www.delmarvanow.com

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHAT????

Anonymous said...

OMG! So Crippen's still charged with attempted murder for the cousin, but the murder of Handy? Does Farlow think Crippen tossed the gun on to someone else and that person shot Handy? Why NOT let a jury, who will use common sense decide? This court is out of control!

Anonymous said...

Oops, above should read... "but NOT the murder of Handy?"

Anonymous said...

Then who did shoot Handy?
Wasn't Crippen found in Delaware at a motel and arrested? Did they ever find the weapon used?

Anonymous said...

The motions hearing and trial were orginally scheduled for September, but were moved to this month at the request of the state.
I wonder if it's just a coincidence that the state wanted the motions and trial continued until after the election?

Anonymous said...

Thank God Beau Oglesby's taking over soon. Do you know Joel Todd was going to let the killer of Hunter Stonnell plea WITHOUT even the courtesy of letting Hunter's family know about it?

Anonymous said...

When's the next Community Awareness Meeting PPE or jmmb? The thing to do would be to invite Misters Todd and Farlow to the meeting so they can explain this action.
Crippen's been convicted of similar violent crimes in the past served time and returned to Pocomoke only to be held for this.
Who cares what else goes on in the community when the children aren't even safe to go outside with people like Crippen roaming around.

Anonymous said...

@2:39--people like you disgust me. Did it ever cross your narrow mind that evidence existed from the very beginning that contradicted the story that police were originally given? The bottom line is Torrance Davis lied to investigators over and over and they believed him. Now he has yet another version of what happened that night and they believe him again.

What about the fact that there have been so many young men/boys arrested in Pocomoke for possessing guns over the last few months? If you are so worried about the children, maybe you should talk to the police about Davis and the likes of him roaming around instead.

jmmb said...

The Davis man does have a nice record of crime himself. Unfortunately, though society is tired of his kind roaming the streets, the court systems are not. So he and others like him roam the streets.

I can't help but wonder what the Handy family is feeling to know that the person they "assumed" killed their loved one will not face charges for that.

These same people stood with the Worcester County Commissioners and State's Attorney Joel Todd a few weeks ago for a photo in recognition of 2010 National Day of Rememberance For Murder Victims.

Unless there is something they know that the public doesn't I guess they have every right to feel betrayed.

And this is what alot of people were afraid would happen if Oglesby was elected. Gee...

Anonymous said...

People like you discust alot of us 4:56. Crippens is a Murderer and that's the long and the short of it!
Thank You, Jmmb.