Self-defense claim eyed in death of neighbor
Accused man ‘had look of blackness in his eyes,’ victim’s girlfriend says
Moments before the shotgun blast that ended his life hit his back, Kenneth Pickell took off his jacket and shirt, exposed his penis to his neighbor, Joshua Leone, and spat on some of Leone’s belongings.
A witness to the Feb. 23 killing said the Bethlehem Township men were exchanging angry words in Leone’s driveway before Leone, 35, went into the garage and came back holding a revolver and a shotgun. He fired the shotgun at Pickell, killing him almost instantly, police say.
Leone’s attorney, Robert Goldman, said he will prove that his client had retreated into the garage and that Pickell followed him, forcing him to grab his weapons. Goldman called the killing “a classic case of self-defense” and asked that homicide charges against his client be thrown out.
At a hearing Friday at the Northampton County Courthouse, District Justice Patricia C. Broscius disagreed, and held Leone for trial.
The shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m., in the 3100 block of Clifton Avenue. Prosecutors say Pickell, 31, was headed back to his house across the street when Leone shot him.
“To suggest that someone who is walking away and is shot in the back was killed
in self-defense is offensive to the concept of self-defense,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Tatum Wilson. “This man was unarmed, not even defending himself. He was walking away when he was shot in cold blood.”
Officers responding to a 911 call found Pickell’s girlfriend kneeling next to him in Leone’s driveway. He was bleeding heavily. Leone came out of his house with his hands up and was quickly arrested.
The girlfriend, Michelle Kurtz, told police that she and Pickell were about to walk their dog when he went across the street to speak to Leone, who was breaking up a couch with a hatchet. The men began to argue, she testified Friday, but Leone was playing loud music so she could not hear most of what was said.
Leone was visibly angry, she told Broscius, and had a “cold and dark” expression on his face.
“He had a look of blackness in his eyes,” she testified. “I pleaded to Ken to come home, that this guy wasn’t worth it.”
Kurtz testified that Leone beckoned Pickell into the garage, saying “Come in here,” followed by an expletive.
Pickell turned and was walking away, she said, when Leone emerged from the garage holding a revolver with a laser sight and a shotgun. She told the judge that Leone trained the laser on her forehead, then fired the shotgun at Pickell.
“I heard the shot go off,” she said. “I turned and looked down and saw blood on the ground.”
During intense questioning and cross-examination, Kurtz described Pickell stumbling backward into the threshold of the garage after being hit in the back, clutching for something to hold onto. As his knees buckled, she helped him lie down on the driveway, she said, and began performing first aid.
“He made a sound,” Kurtz said, gasping to demonstrate the noise. “To catch his last breath.”
Kurtz said she didn’t know what sparked the argument. Before the day of the shooting, Pickell considered Leone “like a brother,” she said, and they often socialized at Leone’s home.
Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek testified that a large amount of blood was found on Leone’s garage floor, but he could not say if Pickell was inside or outside the garage when he was shot, only that he could have taken a step or two after being hit with the shotgun blast.
The precise location of the shooting may become an issue if Leone mounts a self-defense claim at trial, though homeowners are not automatically justified in shooting a person who enters their property.
Leone did not take the stand Friday. During Lysek’s testimony Goldman attempted to show him a photo of Pickell’s back wound that was being used as an exhibit. Leone shook his head violently, then turned away and stared at the courtroom floor, breathing heavily and clutching his chest for several minutes.
Leone is being held without bail in the county jail. His next court date is an arraignment in July.
Morning Call reporter Laurie Mason Schroeder can be reached at lmason@mcall.com or 610-820-6506.