UNIONTOWN - The criminal case against Mark Duane Edwards Jr., facing the death penalty if convicted for the shooting deaths of a North Union Township family this spring, has been continued until November.
Edwards, 19, of 41 Snyder Terrace, Uniontown, appeared in Fayette County Court on Friday for a pre-trial conference.
Edwards is now represented by Assistant Public Defender Susan Ritz-Harper. Ritz-Harper asked President Judge William J. Franks to continue Edwards' case until the November session of criminal court. Franks granted the continuance.
Edwards is charged with four counts of criminal homicide for the April 14 shooting deaths of Larry Bobish Sr., 50; his wife, Joanna M. Bobish, 42; their daughter, Krystal Bobish, 17; and Krystal Bobish's unborn child. She was five months pregnant.
Edwards is also charged with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, burglary and arson.
The lone member of the Bobish family to survive the attack and subsequent burning of their residence at 322 Kennedy St. Extension in North Union Township was the couple's son, Larry Bobish Jr. Police said Edwards also shot and attacked Larry Jr., but he escaped the burning structure and was found in the yard shortly before 7 a.m. by an off-duty state police trooper.
State police allege that the crimes were drug related. Police also allege that Edwards confessed to the crimes, telling police the Bobishes threatened to have him arrested if he did not pay for drugs he allegedly stole from the Bobishes. Police said that Larry Jr. identified Edwards as the perpetrator; he and Krystal Bobish were friends.
The pre-trial conference was continued from Wednesday when Assistant District Attorney Jack Heneks offered Edwards a general plea to first-degree murder.
On Friday, Edwards rejected the offer of a general plea to first degree murder, which clears the way for his case to be listed for trial.
He has been housed in the Fayette County Prison since his arrest on April 18.
Last month, the district attorney's office filed its notice to seek the death penalty against Edwards based on several aggravating circumstances - the crime resulted in the death of an unborn child; the commission of the crime placed Larry Bobish Jr. at grave risk of death; the victims were killed by means of torture; and because the Bobishes were killed because of association or involvement in a drug transaction.
Edwards will face the death penalty if convicted of one or more of the criminal homicide charges. Following the return of guilty verdicts, a second hearing is convened to present the commonwealth's aggravating circumstances and the defense's mitigating circumstances, factors that may or may not lead the jury to impose or not impose the death penalty.
The decision to impose the death penalty must be a unanimous one.
