Motions scheduled in ‘Scotty’ murder case
Gary Fellenbaum to appear in court for pre-trial proceedings
WEST CHESTER >> Gary Lee Fellenbaum is scheduled to appear in a Common Pleas courtroom today to begin pre-trial proceedings in the capital murder case against him for the murder of 3-year-old Scott “Scotty” McMillan, the youngest child of the woman he had been living with in a West Caln trailer home.
But although the courtroom, the judge in the case, and the attorneys both on his behalf and the prosecution’s remain the same as previous appearances, the landscape of the case against him has changed significantly.
Last week, the mother of the young victim in the case agreed to assist with the prosecution and testify against Fellenbaum, who authorities contend was the main perpetrator of the physical abuse that McMillan and his older brother suffered in October and November 2014. Scott McMillan died of blunt force trauma after being subjected to regular beatings and, the prosecution contends, torture.
Prior to that, Fellenbaum’s attorney had been hoping to have the two tried together.
Jillian Tait, who met Fellenbaum while they both worked at the Wal-Mart in Sadsbury and moved in with him shortly thereafter, was allowed to plead guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, along with related charges, in exchange for her cooperation. The lead prosecutor in the case, First Assistant District Attorney Michael Noone, told Judge William P. Mahon that his office had decided to drop the first-degree murder charges against her, and the intention of seeking the death penalty, because her testimony against Fellenbaum was necessary.
“This defendant will be a critical witness in the trial of Gary Fellenbaum,” and the prosecution’s attempt to win a death-penalty conviction against him, Noone told the judge. “Essentially, your honor, the defendant will act as a living adult witness to what happened in that trailer.”
More than that, Fellenbaum’s ex-wife, Amber Fellenbaum, has also agreed to testify against him. Amber Fellenbaum, who was not charged with the boy’s murder, nevertheless saw the alleged abuse that both Fellenbaum and Tait inflicted on him, and is expected to bolster the prosecution’s case.
Amber Fellenbaum pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person, one count of each for both Scott McMillan and his older brother, who was 6 at the time. She faces a total maximum penalty of 18 years in state prison.
All three have been held in Chester County since their arrests 2014.
The hearings that begin today before Mahon will include more than two dozen pre-trial motions filed by both the prosecution and Fellenbaum’s attorney, George S. Yacoubian Jr. of Radnor. Among them are a motion to have the trial moved from Chester County because of pre-trial publicity, and to keep the jurors chosen for the capital case from seeing photographs of the victim.
Yacoubian contends that his client’s constitutional right to a fair trial had been hopelessly compromised by the pre-trial publicity the case had received in newspaper articles, television broadcasts, and internet posting.
“The self-evident conclusion is that this county has been so saturated with the facts underlying this case that it is impossible for defendant to receive a fair trial before a jury of impartial persons who learn of the case only through the
MURDER >> PAGE 12 Prison in November