New Kensington man acquitted of homicide
A jury on Thursday found a New Kensington man not guilty of murder and other offenses related to the November 2015 shooting of a Bucks County man outside a city bar.
After three days of testimony and four hours of deliberations, a Westmoreland County jury acquitted Devon Michael Bayne, 25, of first-degree murder, third-degree murder, robbery and a firearms offense.
The prosecution contended Bayne fired four shots on Nov. 6, 2015, that killed Anthony “Ace” Ritchie, 24, outside the Valley Bar on a New Kensington street. Authorities said Bayne had been living with family in Vandergrift prior to the shooting.
“We are pleased with the verdict, but our heart goes out to the victim's family. We think the jury made the right verdict,” defense attorney Michael DeMatt said.
DeMatt argued the prosecution's lone eyewitness to the shooting was not to be believed and told jurors that his testimony, in which he claimed to have seen Bayne fire the shots that killed Ritchie, could not be supported by evidence presented during the trial.
Tracy Durand previously told jurors he saw Bayne approach Ritchie from behind, demand items believed to be drugs and fire several shots. But DeMatt argued to jurors that Durand's story was short on facts and suggested that he actually was the man who killed Ritchie and fingered Bayne to cover up his own actions.
“Tracy was told to take out Ace. He took care of him; he's a cold-blooded killer,” DeMatt said in his closing argument to the jury.
The prosecution contended Durand's story was believable, as Assistant District Attorney Larry Koenig argued Bayne had a motive to kill Ritchie.
“There was something going on. I'll bet dollars to donuts it had something to do with those 45 bags of heroin found on Anthony's person,” Koenig said. “We have shown you who did this. It was exhaustively investigated for a year and a half, and nobody remotely came close to being another suspect.”
After the verdict was announced, Koenig insisted that police arrested and charged the right man in Ritchie's murder. No additional investigation would be launched in the wake of Bayne's acquittal, Koenig said.
“I just feel badly for the family. They're suffering doubly now,” Koenig said.
It was unclear late Thursday when Bayne would be released from jail, where he has been held without bond since his arrest in April 2016.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-830-6293 or rcholodofsky@tribweb.com.
