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Thread: Timothy Matthew Jacoby - Pennsylvania Death Row

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    Timothy Matthew Jacoby - Pennsylvania Death Row


    Monica Schmeyer, 55




    Death penalty sought in Schmeyer slaying


    Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man accused of fatally shooting Monica Schmeyer in her Manheim Township home more than 2-1/2 years ago.

    Timothy Matthew Jacoby, 39, was formally arraigned Tuesday in York County Court on charges of first-degree murder, burglary, receiving stolen property, illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to court records.

    Also Tuesday, prosecutors filed written notice they intend to seek the death penalty for Jacoby.

    Neither chief deputy prosecutor Tim Barker, who is handling the case, nor defense attorney Brian Perry could immediately be reached for comment.

    Southwestern Regional police officers responding to a 911 hang-up call found the 55-year-old Schmeyer dead in her 3414 Trone Road home about 3 p.m. March 31, 2010.

    She died of a gunshot wound to the head and suffered other traumatic injuries during or prior to the attack, police have said.

    Nothing appeared to have been taken from the home, located in a secluded wooded area, according to police.

    The allegations: According to Jacoby's arrest affidavit, witnesses in the area saw a man fitting his description walking toward Schmeyer's home about the time of the homicide.

    Charging documents don't reveal a motive for the slaying, and officials aren't talking about what they suspect the motive might be.

    "We are being close-lipped about information," Southwestern Regional Police Chief Greg Bean has said, adding he is not in a position to discuss motive or other details of the case.

    "We want to make sure our (allegations are) complete before we talk about it," he said.

    District Attorney Tom Kearney has said the investigation is ongoing, and that motives "are always subject to continued investigation."

    Jacoby is friends with the victim's ex-husband, Dr. Jon D. Schmeyer, an ophthalmologist formerly of Hanover and now of Williamsburg, Va., documents state.

    At Hooter's: At the time Monica Schmeyer was killed, her husband was at Hooter's restaurant in York with friend Sara Powell, who at the time was Jacoby's fiancee, according to Jacoby's arrest affidavit.

    Powell told investigators Jacoby usually accompanied them, but wasn't there that day, the affidavit states, and a former Hooter's employee confirmed previously seeing Jacoby and Jon Schmeyer together at the restaurant. Police said the men were part of a social group that frequently met at Hooter's.

    Jacoby remains in York County Prison without bail on the murder charges.

    He's also serving a four- to eight-year prison sentence for a previous case in which he was charged with illegal firearm possession and receiving stolen property.

    http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_21731...hmeyer-slaying

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    Death penalty trial begins in York County

    The death penalty case for Timothy Matthew Jacoby began Monday in the York County Court of Common Pleas.

    Jacoby is accused of fatally shooting 55-year-old Monica Schmeyer in her Manheim Township home during a botched burglary in 2010, authorities have said.

    Southwestern Regional police officers responding to a 911 hang-up call found Schmeyer dead in her 3414 Trone Road home about 3 p.m. March 31, 2010. She died of a gunshot wound to the head and suffered other traumatic injuries during or prior to the attack, police have said.

    Nothing appeared to have been taken from the home, located in a secluded wooded area, according to police.

    Jacoby faces charges of first-degree murder, burglary, receiving stolen property, illegal possession of firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to court records.

    http://www.yorkdispatch.com/ci_26625...ns-york-county
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    Neighbor testifies to seeing man accused of murder leaving scene in rural York County

    YORK – The day Monica Schmeyer was killed in a rural part of York County near Glenville, her neighbor saw something unusual.

    As Anthony Crawford returned home from the dentist in Hanover around 4:30 p.m. or so on March 31, 2010, he saw a man up ahead of his mailbox, walking toward a grey or silver van roughly 150 yards away. That man didn't look around when Crawford pulled up, but kept walking, Crawford recalled Wednesday morning for a York County jury.

    Crawford went to work the next day where he heard that Schmeyer, who lived nearby, had been killed, he said. When Crawford talked to another neighbor about the murder that had occurred in their neighborhood, that neighbor said he, too, had seen a similar looking man walking toward Schmeyer's remote home on Trone Road, and then away from the house a short time later.

    This prompted Crawford to call the Southwestern Regional Police Department, which was already investigating the shooting death of Schmeyer. And this week, the man police say Crawford spotted after Schmeyer's killing is on trial.

    If convicted, Timothy M. Jacoby, 41, of York, could face the death penalty. His trial started Monday, and he faces charges that include first-degree murder.

    Police charged Jacoby roughly two years after Schmeyer's death. According to charging documents, Monica Schmeyer was divorced from a man named Jon Schmeyer, formerly of Hanover. His number appeared on her caller i.d. the day of her death, police said.

    But Jon Schmeyer told officers that when his ex-wife died, he was at the Hooter's restaurant in York, which was verified through video surveillance at the restaurant. However, police said the investigation revealed Jon Schmeyer and Jacoby were part of the same social group that would meet on occasion at Hooter's. Additionally, Jacoby matched Crawford's description, had a van like Crawford had described, and owned a .32 caliber gun, which was the caliber of spent casing found in Monica Schmeyer's home, police said.

    Four of those shell casings were found at Jacoby's parents home, according to testimony Wednesday from Officer Bryn Lindenmuth of the Southwestern Regional Police Department.

    Lindenmuth told the jury about a year after Monica Schmeyer's death, the investigation led police to Jacoby's parents' rural home, where at a homemade shooting range, they found numerous shell casings, including four from a .32 caliber gun.

    As police continued to investigate, charging documents show officers found a .32 Kel-Tec semi-automatic pistol and ammunition at his parents' home, and ballistics testing later determined the weapon to be a match for the shell casing found at Monica Schmeyer's home, according to court documents.

    Trial is expected to continue Wednesday afternoon.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Workplace van links York man facing death penalty to Manheim Twp. murder: Investigators

    YORK – The investigation into the shooting death of Monica Schmeyer took many twists and turns, and had investigators stumped for some time, looking anywhere they could for clues.

    One of the earliest leads, and a significant subject of testimony in York County Court Thursday, came in the form of a silver van. A big one, according to Anthony Crawford, who lived near Schmeyer, and had spotted the van and a man walking toward it on the remote Manheim Township road the day Schmeyer was killed.

    York County Detective Douglas Demangone continued his testimony Thursday, telling the jury it was that van that played a crucial role in investigators filing charges against Timothy M. Jacoby, 41, of York, who is on trial this week, accused of murdering Schmeyer. If convicted, Jacoby could face the death penalty.

    Early in the investigation, before Jacoby was ever a suspect, Demangone searched for any surveillance camera that could have picked up something. In nearby Jefferson – about four minutes away – he found a camera at the front door of People's Bank and one at the bank's ATM at a convenience store across the street, both pointing toward the town's roundabout. And around the time of Schmeyer's death on March 31, 2010, both cameras picked up a van similar to the one Crawford had seen heading in the direction of Schmeyer's house, and returning a short time later, Demangone testified.

    As the investigation unfolded, and Jacoby became a suspect, investigators found Jacoby had access to such a van from is job at Armstrong Industries.

    Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker showed the jury photos of the van taken at Armstrong Industries and compared them to the images from the bank's video surveillance. While the video camera's photos could not be enhanced to reveal the license plate or a number 69 on the side, which identified the van as part of Armstrong's fleet, other features, such as the apparent make and model, seemed to be a match, Demangone said.

    But when Jacoby's attorney, Brian Perry, asked about the van on cross examination, he pointed out the video from the bank failed to show the van's most distinguishing characteristics. But Stanley Knight, who had worked at Armstrong at the time, and was in charge of signing out vehicles, testified he was able to identify the van in the video as Armstrong's.

    "In my opinion, it looks like an Armstrong vehicle," he said.

    Though the fleet number couldn't be seen, Knight said he could make out the metal mesh separating the front seats from the back cargo area, which was a customization he had installed in that van.

    Police knew about that van early on, but Jacoby wasn't a suspect for the first year or so of the investigation, according to prior testimony. His name did come up fairly early in passing, though. The day after Schmeyer's death, police interviewed her ex-husband, Jon Schmeyer, who said he was at Panera Bread and then Hooter's in York with a social club he belongs to called the Orange Shorts Society, which was backed up by video at from restaurants, according to testimony.

    When investigators interviewed Sara Powell, who was with Jon Schmeyer that day, they say she backed up his story, named the other club members who were present, but said her fiancé, Jacoby, is usually there, but was not that day.

    Perry asked the detective about a $2,500 deposit into Powell's bank account that came day before Monica Schmeyer's death, which he verified was larger than any other deposit into that account. But on redirect from Barker, Demangone said he looked at the financial records and bank accounts of all three -- Jacoby, Jon Schmeyer and Powell -- and found nothing unusual that would link any of the three of them together. If he had, he would have pursued that angle, he testified.

    When police started looking into Jacoby as a possible suspect, Demangone searched his name in a database, and found Jacoby owned a .32 caliber gun, which was the caliber of shell casing found in the victim's home, according to testimony.

    Testimony indicates a search warrant issued on Jacoby's home revealed a barrel of such a gun, and a search warrant of his parents' home found four .32 shells at a shooting range on the property, as well as another barrel. Ballistics testing showed the shells found at the range and in Schmeyer's home came from the same gun, charging documents indicate.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Death penalty trial: Shell casings from Jacoby home match evidence from scene of York County woman's murder

    YORK - Four shell casings found at the farm of Timothy Matthew Jacoby came from the same gun that ejected a spent cartridge at the scene of a York County woman's March 2010 murder, a firearms expert told a county jury Friday.

    Yet that expert, state police Cpl. David Krumbine, also said he couldn't definitively link a pistol barrel found at the home of Jacoby's parents to a mutilated bullet pulled from the head of 55-year-old slaying victim Monica Schmeyer.

    Krumbine testified as Day Five dawned on Jacoby's trial.

    Prosecutors Tim Barker and Kelly Nelson are seeking a first-degree murder conviction and the death penalty for the 41-year-old Jacoby. They claim he killed Schmeyer during a burglary at her secluded home in Manheim Township. He was arrested more than two years after the slaying.

    Defense attorney Brian Perry is arguing that the evidence for the prosecution's theory is shaky and that nothing solidly ties his client to Schmeyer's slaying.

    Krumbine spent more than two hours on the witness stand being questioned by Barker. He was called to testify after Sgt. John Greene of the Southwestern Regional Police told the jury how he found a pistol barrel in a Mason jar filled with coins and other odds and ends in a bedroom during a July 2011 search at the home of Jacoby's parents.

    The barrel, which was from a .32 caliber Kel-Tec pistol, was later examined and test-fired by Krumbine at the state police lab. Krumbine said the barrel had a defect - a gouge - at its mouth. A similar gouge was found on the bullet from the slaying scene, he said, and also showed up on bullets he test-fired.

    Krumbine said under questioning by both Barker and Perry that other damage to the barrel, consisting of severe scratching to its bore, prevented him from determining for certain whether the bullet that killed Schmeyer passed though it.

    However, he said he was confident, based on his microscopic examinations of markings on the shell casing from the murder scene and those from the Jacoby farm, that they all were ejected from the same unknown firearm.

    Under Perry's questioning, Krumbine said he had no means of determining whether the bullet taken from Schmeyer's body had come from the shell casing found in her home.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Experts dispute DNA evidence in York County death penalty trial

    YORK — Two expert witnesses contested the validity of DNA evidence that could place Timothy Matthew Jacoby at the scene of the homicide he is charged with.

    Their testimony is pivotal in the death penalty trial in York County Court, because the defense contends that Jacoby had never met Schmeyer and the DNA evidence could cement a case the defense argues is solely circumstantial. Both sides offered up an expert witness with a differing opinion on the genetic evidence.

    In the second half of Friday's trial filled with jargon-laden testimony, the witness for the defense told the jury that the DNA found under Monica Schmeyer's fingernails after the March 2010 homicide does not rule out other suspects based on the tests she conducted. The prosecution's rebuttal witness countered that the tests sufficiently point to Jacoby as the man connected to the DNA.

    Katherine Cross, the DNA technical leader and partner at Guardian Forensic Sciences in Abington, testified before the jury that the DNA taken from the fingernails on Schmeyer's left hand does not conclusively identify Jacoby.

    She said conducted the initial tests while working with NMS Labs in Willow Grove as a DNA technical leader, in 2010. These tests focused on 11 genetic markers.

    "More markers could define whether it's Jacoby [or someone else]," Cross said. She also noted that DNA on the Schmeyer's right hand had other DNA in the fingernails.

    She added that had she known police had a suspect, she would have conducted a more conclusive test, which would have examined 23 markers.

    Cross introduced her report analyzing the findings from the original tests she took after determining Jacoby was a suspect. Cross's report said there could be up to 127 people in the area who would also have the same 11 markers as Jacoby.

    The prosecution's rebuttal witness, Christian Westring, director of criminalistics at of NMS Labs, said Cross's math is misleading because there are not 127 white men with the same gene sequence that would also come back positive.

    "It's irrelevant. I don't see the value in that calculation," Westring said. "The mathematics are incorrect and the philosophy behind those numbers are flawed."

    He said that even though there were more "discriminatory" tests, Cross's assertions do not factor in the high likelihood no one other than Jacoby's DNA could have been found under Schmeyer's fingernails.

    The trial will resume Monday at 9 a.m.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    'A painful irony,' murder victim's ex-husband tells jury in York County death-penalty trial

    YORK – When three police officers knocked on the door of Jon Schmeyer's Hanover apartment on April 1, 2010, he hoped the news they bore was "a horrible April Fool's joke."

    Schmeyer took the stand Monday morning as the second week of trial for a member of a social club he was part of, Timothy Jacoby, 41, of York, began on charges related to the shooting death of Schmeyer's ex-wife, Monica Schmeyer.

    While the prosecution was building the case Monday that Schmeyer made many statements at these social club meetings he and Jacoby both attended, saying he would give large amounts of cash to his ex-wife as part of a divorce settlement, Jacoby's attorney, Brian Perry, was indicating through his cross-examination that Schmeyer would be the one who would benefit financially if he no longer had to pay her expenses in the house they once shared in rural Manheim Township.

    In his testimony Monday, Jon Schmeyer recalled the day the Southwestern Regional Police officers told him about his wife's murder.

    "I was pacing and crying in my apartment," Schmeyer told the York County jury. Still hoping his ex-wife's death was a joke, he drove to the Trone Road home they once shared, and went inside.

    "There was blood everywhere," Schmeyer said.

    And from that police visit, he realized something else.

    "I was considered a suspect," Schmeyer said. He watched enough "Forensic Files" on television to know the husband or ex-husband is often accused of the crime, but testified he still called several people, and told them to cooperate fully with the police, "because there was nothing to hide."

    One of those calls was placed to Jacoby's fiancee, Sara Powell.

    Jacoby, Powell and Jon Schmeyer all regularly attended the informal meetings of the Orange Shorts Society, which would get together at the Hooter's restaurant in York. There was a meeting the day of Monica Schmeyer's death, but Jacoby was not present, testimony indicates. And just prior to that meeting, Jon Schmeyer had met with Powell at a nearby Panera Bread to discuss financial matters, he said.

    Their meeting was at 3 p.m. -- around the time police say Monica Schmeyer was killed. Video surveillance backs this up, but Perry pointed out Schmeyer and Powell had never met alone, before or since.

    And on cross-examination, Perry was also building the case that finances could have been at play.

    Through a divorce decree, Schmeyer gave his ex-wife $1,700 per month – in cash since she had no checking account. He also covered many of her other day-to-day expenses. He wasn't happy about doing so, and would frequently mention this in conversation at the Orange Shorts Society meetings.

    While Schmeyer admitted to Perry he would discuss those payments, he said his discussions fell short of "complaining," though when Perry asked if he would, "call her the B-word," he said he did.

    Schmeyer testified, though, he would receive no financial benefit from her death. Their two daughters would evenly split his ex-wife's estate as well as the sale of the Trone Road home. Additionally, the divorce agreement that had him paying his ex-wife on a monthly basis was set to expire in a year.

    It was in 2012 when York County Det. Douglas Demangone told Schmeyer Jacoby had been arrested and charged in connection with his ex-wife's murder that Schmeyer reacted by telling the detective, "I'm responsible," testimony indicates.

    But Schmeyer explained what he meant was that Jacoby only knew about Monica Schmeyer through him.

    "Tim would have only known about Monica through me and what's even more painful is that Monica hated Hooter's and hated my associations at Hooters," he said. "It's a painful irony."

    And Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker came out and asked him on redirect, "Did you try to arrange to have anyone kill your wife, Monica Schmeyer," to which Schmeyer answered, "No, sir."

    The prosecution is expected to present one more witness Monday afternoon before resting its case.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Ex-fiancee of man on trial for York County murder enters tearful testimony

    YORK – Sara Powell was one of the people closely investigated by police after the 2010 shooting death of Monica Schmeyer in rural York County.

    Powell was with Schmeyer's ex-husband, Jon Schmeyer, the afternoon of her death and she had close to $2,500 in cash deposited into her bank account the day before, defense attorney Brian Perry pointed out when Powell took the witness stand on Monday.

    And at the time of Monica Schmeyer's death, Powell was engaged to the man who is now on trial, facing charges related to Schmeyer's murder – Timothy Jacoby.

    But through her often-tearful testimony Monday afternoon in York County Court, Powell told the jury she and Jon Schmeyer never discussed killing Monica Schmeyer when they got together that day and the money in her account was not deposited for that purpose.

    Powell testified as Jacoby's death-penalty trial entered its second week. Jacoby, who was charged in 2012, is accused of shooting and killing Monica Schmeyer on March 31, 2010.

    According to court documents and prior testimony, Jacoby, Powell and Jon Schmeyer were all part of the Orange Shorts Society, a social group that got together at Hooter's, and on the day Monica Schmeyer was found shot in the head in her remote Trone Road home near Glenville, Jacoby was not present for the meeting, and Powell and Jon Schmeyer had gotten together prior to that meeting.

    Neighbors
    near Monica Schmeyer's home saw a man police say matched Jacoby's description walking to and from the house that day, and another spotted him walking toward a silver van like the one Jacoby had access to through his employer, according to testimony.

    And as police investigated, they testified the .32 caliber shells found at a shooting range at Jacoby's parents' farm came from the same gun as the shell found in Monica Schmeyer's home. Plus, barrels for such guns were found at Jacoby's home and at the home of his parents, testimony indicates.

    On Monday, Perry, Jacoby's attorney, worked to paint a picture of the days around Monica Schmeyer's death through Powell, showing that she and Jon Schmeyer were together that afternoon. Though they were members of the same social club, as was Jacoby, that day was the only time they were ever together alone – in a restaurant with cameras to verify it.

    In her testimony, Powell said:

    • She recalls Jon Schmeyer "was very disgruntled about having to pay alimony," and would often bring this up at the Orange Shorts Society get-togethers. She testified, however, she does not remember Schmeyer ever telling the group he would give his ex-wife cash, or that he said anything about it while Jacoby was sitting near him. The prosecution was building the case that Jacoby had killed Monica Schmeyer, and taken a white envelope, like the envelopes in which she would store cash.
    • She remembers on the evening of Monica Schmeyer's death that Jacoby had a cut on his hand, but said Jacoby told her he had injured his hand at work.
    • She also recalled Jacoby helping photographer friend Eric Miller move his studio in York around that time, and recalls Miller bringing Jacoby his jacket and phone, which he had left with him earlier that day.

    But on cross-examination from York County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker, Powell said there was a .32 caliber handgun in the house she shared with Jacoby on Princess Street in York, and said it was Jacoby's gun, not hers, and she had never fired it.

    And when Barker asked if in that meeting with Jon Schmeyer the day of Monica Schmeyer's death they had discussed killing his ex-wife, Powell, through tears, said, "no," and said the same when asked if that $2,500 in cash had been deposited in her account for such purposes.

    She could not remember where the money came from, but said her parents would often help her financially at the time because she was unemployed.

    Testimony is expected to continue Tuesday morning.

    If convicted, Jacoby could face the death penalty. He is facing charges of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and tampering with evidence.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Sides clash in closing arguments over value of DNA, ballistics evidence in death penalty case

    YORK -- The evidence does not fit and is as if, throughout trial, the prosecution was pounding a square peg into a round hole, Timothy Jacoby's attorney, Brian Perry, told a York County jury Tuesday.

    "Don't you have more questions than answers after seven days?" he asked.

    Perry and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker delivered their closing arguments in the death penalty trial of Jacoby, 41, which started Sept. 29. Jacoby is accused of shooting and killing Monica Schmeyer, whose ex-husband, Jon Schmeyer, was a part of the same social group that met at the Hooter's in York.

    Barker argued it was through this club that Jacoby would hear Jon Schmeyer complain about having to give his ex-wife alimony payments, in cash, at her remote home in Manheim Township, which led to Jacoby going there to rob the home, and ultimately kill Monica Schmeyer.

    But the argument Perry laid out for the jury in his closing was what he called "the absurdity of the theory" of the prosecution.

    Perry said what the prosecution was telling the jury was that Jacoby, who did not know Monica Schmeyer, drove his work van in broad daylight to her home because he may or may not have overheard her ex-husband talk about giving her cash. He parked, walked there, killed her, and walked back, then returned to the scene an hour later when another witness had spotted the van near the house, he said.

    "The most important fact of the whole case is that their timeline doesn't work," Perry said.

    A camera on an ATM in nearby Jefferson caught the van passing through town at 2:38 p.m. on March 31, 2010, and again at 2:59 p.m., heading in the other direction away from Schmeyer's home. But Monica Schmeyer placed a 911 call at 2:52 p.m. It was within the timeframe, but it had taken an investigating officer 20 minutes to walk to and from Schmeyer's home and where police said Jacoby had parked the van, Perry pointed out.

    Additionally, Perry said video surveillance that caught the work van the prosecution said Jacoby drove did not show that van's most identifiable features -- two stickers that identified it as belonging to Jacoby's employer.

    Perry also said while there was DNA evidence found under Monica Schmeyer's fingernails, it was inconclusive, and could only be narrowed down to 1 in 127 males in York County, including Jacoby.

    So what happened to Monica Schmeyer?

    "Follow the money," Perry said.

    Perry indicated this trail leads to Monica Schmeyer's ex-husband, Jon Schmeyer. While his ex-wife was being murdered, Jon Schmeyer was meeting with Sara Powell, who was engaged to Jacoby, at the Panera Bread in York, where there was video surveillance to catch them on camera and provide an alibi, Perry said. They were part of the same social group, but that day was the only time the two had ever met alone.

    And the day before the murder, Powell had received a $2,500 deposit in cash in her checking account.

    The actual killer was someone other than Jacoby, Perry indicated, adding when Monica Schmeyer's brother, Eric Laskowich, testified about hearing the news of her death, he said Jon Schmeyer told him, "They killed her."

    But Barker argued in his closing that Jon Schmeyer was investigated closely and thoroughly by the police.

    "And he cooperated," Barker told the jury.

    He was found not to be involved, and the evidence against Jacoby fits, Barker said.

    "We can draw a direct link to a gun purchased by the defendant," he said. "You can commit a good crime, but there's no such thing as the perfect crime."

    Ballistics testing, first, links the .32 caliber shell casing found at Monica Schmeyer's home with four .32 caliber shell casings found at Jacoby's parents' firing range, which experts testified were fired from the same gun as the one that killed Monica Schmeyer, he said. Police found two .32 caliber barrels, too, and one was damaged on the inside as if someone had used a sharp, metal object to scrape away at it, but shots fired still left similar marks on the shells as the marks left on the shell casings police found, Barker said.

    Additionally, in Jacboy's parents house, .32 caliber ammunition was found, and Jacoby was linked by police to having purchased a .32 caliber handgun.

    Beyond ballistics, Barker told the jury the DNA evidence might not be limited solely to Jacboy, but, "We found evidence under Monica Schmeyer's fingernails that includes Timothy Jacoby as a contributor."

    "Tim's gun plus Tim's DNA equals, right there, Tim's guilty beyond any and all doubt," Barker said. "If this were a pole vault, we'd be way over."

    But why would Jacoby be at Monica Schmeyer's in the first place?

    "He heard about her through Jon," Barker said. At those social group meetings at Hooter's, Jacoby heard Jon Schmeyer say he would give his ex-wife alimony in cash. Jacoby had the need for money and the belief in the opportunity to get it from someone who was alone and isolated, Barker said.

    It may be a tight timeline, Barker admitted, but it should be because there was just a killing, he said. Even without the timeline, Barker noted, "His gun, his DNA. He's guilty."

    The jury will return to receive their instructions Wednesday morning, and will then begin deliberations. Jacoby faces charges of first-degree murder, robbery, burglary and tampering with evidence. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...l#incart_river
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #10
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    Jacoby found guilty of murder; trial moves to death penalty phase

    YORK — The case the defense called "absurd" was enough to convince a York County jury that Timothy Matthew Jacoby was guilty of first-degree murder.

    The jury also said Jacoby was guilty of burglary, tampering with physical evidence and robbery on Wednesday. He was accused of the 2010 murder of Monica Schmeyer.

    The trial now moves to the penalty phase where the jury will decide whether Jacoby deserves the death penalty.

    Chief Deputy Prosecutor Tim Barker said he never doubted his case, which was built on strong physical evidence and paired with strong circumstantial evidence.

    Lead defense attorney Brian Perry expressed disappointment but said he hopes that jurors see the potential for good left in Jacoby's life.

    The penalty phase of the trial will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday.

    http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/ind...of_murder.html

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