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According to court documents, Raymond James "RJ" Lambert, HC3, Box 162, Muzette Road, Marienville, and Stephen Gail Hall, HC3, Box 179A, Muzette Road, Marienville, went to the home of 50-year-old Timothy Patrick Finucan, My Lane, Millstone Township, to steal drugs.
Hall knocked on the door of Finucan about 3 a.m. Aug. 20, 2008, while Lambert, who had Hall's rifle in hand, went to hide behind the house.
Hall told Finucan he had been in an accident and needed help. Finucan, who answered the door with a pistol in his hand walked to his truck with Hall to get a flashlight. When Lambert saw the gun he fired at Finucan twice, killing him.
Thirteen people testified during the first day of the three-day trial.
District Attorney Brad Kraus said the dispute isn't that Finucan died or really what happened, but what the grading of the homicide should be.
First-degree murder means the person intended to kill someone. This decision can be made instantaneously it doesn't have to be planned out, he said. Kraus said the teens took the shotgun with them and wiped off the bullets and loaded the gun.
Second-degree murder is also called felony murder, meaning the accused people were committing another felony when the person was murdered.
The two are also charged with criminal conspiracy and criminal attempt to commit homicide, robbery and burglary.
In Pennsylvania an accomplice is held accountable, just as if he had done the shooting himself, Kraus said.
Defense Attorney Jim Martin, who is representing Lambert, said Lambert was 18 when the crime occurred and had just graduated from high school. The reason the gun was with them was they had planned to shoot deer along the way and they had planned to scare Finucan, not shoot him. When Lambert saw Finucan had a gun, it scared him
Attorney George "Jim" Daghir, who is representing Hall, said his client was 17 and entering his junior year of high school when the crime occurred. Hall is being treated as an adult.
A joint trial is being held is because the facts of the case are very similar, but Daghir asked that the jury not group the two together and that each be judged separately based on their actions and what they said.
Richard Williams, Slippery Rock, formerly of Sigel, said he found Finucan when he stopped by for a visit.
"I thought he (Finucan) was just kidding with me, playing like he was sleeping," he said. When Finucan didn't respond he touched him and realized he was dead. He went to get a friend and then the two went to another house to call 911.
Cpl. Curtis Wise of the Ridgway-based state police arrived at 8:17 p.m. Aug. 20, 2008 and found Finucan lying between his truck and a utility trailer. He saw a spent shotgun shell in the rear of the vehicle and an indentation in the front of the vehicle that looked like it was hit with a BB.
A second spent shotgun shell was found later near the home.
Wise said he could see that Finucan's injuries were not from the pistol he had under him in his hand because he could see little pellets. Police later testified the pistol was loaded and hadn't been fired since it was last cleaned. Finucan had been shot in the left shoulder and the left side. Wise went into the house to see if there were other victims. He noticed the screen door was closed, but the inside door was partially open, the television and light were on.
Trooper Gregory Raybuck said Finucan was in his long johns and slippers as if he had been sleeping.
Trooper Russell Stewart said he found receipts in the home that Finucan had signed Aug. 18, 2008.
Sgt. Wayne Kline said he and Trooper Timothy Wittmann were transporting Bryan Barto when he told them that Lambert knew something about the homicide.
Barto, formerly of Marienville and currently an inmate in the state prison system, said he had been dating Lambert's sister Shawna Lambert in August and October 2008. He said Raymond Lambert told him he shot Finucan.
He testified that Lambert told him Hall ran into the woods after Finucan was shot.
Shawna Lambert said Barto told her Lambert killed Finucan. She later asked both Hall and Lambert and had been told Raymond Lambert shot him with one of Hall's guns. Raymond Lambert told her they had gone to the house to get drugs.
She said Lambert told her he went to hide behind the house and Hall went to the door. If Finucan answered, he was to tell him a story about hitting a deer. When Lambert saw Hall with Finucan and Finucan had a gun, he fired a shot to scare him. Then Finucan began to walk toward him so he fired again, she said. Hall ran into the woods
Finucan had prescription pain medicine for a back problem.
Leonard Nicklas, Marienville, said he had employed Lambert in July and August 2008. Lambert was dating his granddaughter at the time and asked him for a job. Lambert was one of the employees who was with him when they put siding on Finucan's house July 10 and 11. Finucan had left a couple times to get lumber. Lambert may have gone in the home once the first day, but Nicklas said July 11 Lambert said he was sick and went in the house about five times to use the bathroom. Lambert worked for him in August as well. He didn't work Aug. 18 and 19, but did Aug. 20. The morning of Aug. 20, Lambert asked Nicklas if he knew that Finucan had been murdered with a shotgun. He hadn't heard, he said.
Ashlee Perillo, Leeper and formerly of Marienville, said Hall and Lambert had been at her house Aug. 19. Lambert and Hall left about 3 a.m. saying they were going home. Lambert came back to the house, she said she was sleeping, he woke her up and said that Hall may be dead. They drove to Lolita and yelled for Hall stopping in front of a driveway. They went back to Perillo's house and Lambert left. Hall later showed up sweaty, with no shirt looking tired and worn out. He said needed a ride home. In a statement to police, Perillo said Lambert told her Hall had been shooting at somebody. The next day he told her he had done the shooting.
Wittmann and Kline went to Hall's residence Oct. 14, 2008, after talking to Barto and spoke with Hall's parents and about the fact they believe their gun had been used in a crime. His father, Richard Gail Hall, signed a consent saying they could search. Stephen Hall took them to the gun.
Hall signed a statement at that time saying he had taken the gun to Lambert's mother's home and they had shot it out back and he got it back three or four days later.
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Reported by JoAnn Seltzer, staff writer. E-mail:jseltzer@thecourierexpress.com.
