Three suspects in a shooting at an Indiana County school district office last year that left one woman wounded and another injured avoided a trial by reaching plea agreements Monday.
The deals were reached yesterday morning as a jury was about to be selected for the trial of Samuel Erwin and his wife, Nancy, and friend Michael J. Fox, all accused of playing roles in a shooting June 21 at the superintendent's office in the Marion Center Area School District.
Samuel Erwin, 39, described by authorities as an Irish national living in West Virginia, entered the building shortly before 2 p.m. to request a meeting with Superintendent Dr. David Pastrick and another administrator.
When a secretary told Erwin that neither was in the building, police said Erwin reportedly became angry, pulled out a small-caliber pistol and shot more than once at the woman.
The secretary, Marcia Joan Conner, suffered a leg wound. Another employee, Kay Diane Pappal, injured her feet when she jumped from a ledge outside the building while trying to escape.
As he fled the building, Erwin allegedly turned around and fired again, hitting a window before getting into a car allegedly driven by Fox, 19, of Indiana.
Both were apprehended later that day in Westmoreland County along with Nancy Erwin, who authorities said planned to help her husband elude police.
Authorities said Samuel Erwin planned to confront Pastrick because he was upset that his wife, a former teacher in the district, had lost her job the year before over a dispute with school officials.
According to police, the couple had been living in Morgantown, where Nancy Erwin, 49, had found another teaching job but at lower pay.
Under the agreement, Samuel Erwin pleaded guilty to one count each of attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, charges that carry a minimum sentence of five years in prison, according to Assistant District Attorney Geoff Kugler.
In exchange, another count on each of the charges was dismissed along with charges of reckless endangerment, terroristic threats, criminal mischief and institutional vandalism.
Fox, who police allege drove Erwin to Marion Center from Morgantown and from the scene of the shooting, pleaded guilty to two counts of complicity to commit aggravated assault in exchange for having two counts of conspiracy to commit murder dismissed.
Nancy Erwin pleaded guilty to one count of complicity against both victims in exchange for dismissal of the conspiracy charge.
None of the defendants spoke as the agreements were being presented before President Judge William J. Martin.
Attorneys for the three defendants declined to comment after the proceeding.
Kugler told reporters after the session that prosecutors and defense attorneys had been negotiating for about a week but that a deal had not been struck until yesterday morning.
He also said the deals were indicative of the defendants' roles in the incident. "I think the agreements reflected the degree of culpability each one had in the shooting," Kugler said. "I think what was ultimately agreed upon was fair for everyone."
Kugler said the deals had the approval of the two victims of the attack. "We wouldn't have gone ahead if they hadn't agreed," he said. "It was important to have them go along with it."
Both women said after the hearing they endorsed the deals in part because they wanted to put the experience behind them.
"I'm just happy to have it over with," Pappal said as she leaned on a cane she uses to ease the strain to her injured feet. "I want to put this behind me once and for all."
Conner said, "I'm pleased it's over. I just want to get back to my family and my job."
Pastrick could not be reached for comment.
Kugler said he could not speculate on the length of sentences for the defendants.
"It's just too early and there's too many variables to be able to answer that," said Kugler, who noted that pre-sentencing investigations must first be done. "It's really too speculative at this point."
Kugler said prosecutors believed they had put together a case to convict the three defendants.
The evidence, he said, included the weapon used in the shooting and eyewitnesses who would identify Samuel Erwin as the shooter. He said witnesses would place Nancy Erwin at a pawn shop where she sold a clarinet the day of the shooting to get the money needed for her husband to buy the gun used in the attack.
Kugler said a sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 31.
According to authorities, Samuel Erwin was born in Ireland and lived in New Zealand before coming to the United States to marry the former Nancy Lynn Mogle, a divorced mother who taught mathematics at Marion Center for 22 years. Fox reportedly had been friends with or dated one of her daughters.
The Erwins lived briefly in the Marion Center area before moving to Morgantown in 2001, according to police.
All three suspects were returned to the Indiana County Jail. Samuel Erwin remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 straight cash bond, and the other two defendants in lieu of $150,000 bond each.
