Pottstown woman faces trial for alleged fatal stabbing of her boyfriend

POTTSTOWN » After a judge ordered her to stand trial for the alleged fatal stabbing of her boyfriend, a Pottstown woman wailed uncontrollably, the enormity of the situation apparently too much for her to bear.

The face covering she was required to wear due to the coronavirus outbreak couldn’t hide Caitlin Celina Mauras’ emotions or sobs on Thursday as she learned she will face trial on charges of firstand third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the April 16 fatal stabbing of her boyfriend, Jaylin Thomas, inside the apartment they shared in the 300 block of North Charlotte Street.

After a preliminary hearing, District Court Judge Scott Palladino determined prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to move all the charges to trial. Mauras, 22, will remain in the county jail without bail to await a pretrial hearing in county court.

Defense lawyer Carrie Lynn Allman asked the judge to dismiss the firstdegree murder charge, arguing prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence of a specific intent to kill, a requirement for the charge.

“What has been established in this case is an argument,” said Allman, maintaining there is no evidence of “a fully informed intent.”

But Assistant District Attorney Kelli McGinnis argued a specific intent to kill can be inferred by the use of a deadly weapon on a vital part of the body. Detectives said Thomas sustained a fatal wound to the neck.

“There was adequate time to go to the kitchen, get a knife and aim it at a vital part of the body,” McGinnis argued, suggesting intent to kill can be formed in an instant.

Two women, relatives of the victim and Mauras who attended the hearing, hugged as the hearing concluded. Mauras’ relatives tried to console her through calming words as she became emotional.

Mauras, the lawyers, witnesses and spectators had to wear face coverings, underwent temperature checks before the hearing and practiced social distancing, precautions required by court officials during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The investigation began shortly before 10 p.m. April 16 when borough police responded to the North Charlotte Street apartment for a report of an unresponsive male.

“I observed a hysterical female in the hallway. She was covered in blood,” Pottstown Police Officer Peter Yambrick testified, recalling his arrival at the address.

Yambrick said he also observed an unresponsive male, later identified as Thomas, lying in a puddle of blood.

“He had a laceration to the left side of his neck,” said Yambrick, adding he was unable to detect a pulse for Thomas.

Pottstown Detective Brooke Hatfield testified she interviewed Mauras, who told detectives she had dated Thomas for about a year and they had lived together for six months.

Mauras, according to testimony, told detectives the couple had a minor verbal argument and that she looked at Thomas’ phone while he was sleeping and discovered he was viewing the Twitter account of his former girlfriend.

Mauras allegedly confronted Thomas about the contents of his cellphone and the couple pushed at each other and eventually fell to the floor and then separated, according to testimony.

Mauras told detectives she went into the kitchen

“reached into the sink dish rack and grabbed what she believed was the spatula,” went back into the living room “and took a ‘whack’ at Thomas to ‘hurt him’ and ‘scare him,’” according to the criminal complaint and testimony.

“She said she wanted to scare him,” Hatfield testified, adding Mauras claimed she then noticed Thomas was bleeding from his neck. “She stated she realized she was actually holding a knife.”

Thomas did not threaten Mauras prior to the stabbing and he was unarmed, detectives alleged.

Detectives found a “blood-covered silver knife” on the kitchen floor, according to the arrest affidavit.

Hatfield testified an autopsy concluded Thomas died from a stab wound to the neck and the manner of death was ruled to be homicide.

A conviction of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing, can carry penalties of life imprisonment or a death sentence. A conviction of third-degree murder, which is a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.

Caitlin Mauras