Man to stand trial for fatal stabbing
POTTSTOWN >> A Pottstown man facing murder charges in connection with the fatal stabbing of another man in January will be heading to trial.
Sean Patrick Emmell, 24, of the 400 block of North Washington Street, appeared for a preliminary hearing Monday related to the Jan. 3 murder of 20-year-old Joshua Shupard of Gilbertsville.
At the beginning of the hearing Monday, Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood requested additional charges be added to the complaint regarding alleged sexual assaults police say occurred before the stabbing.
Pottstown Police Officer Jacob Martin was called as a witness during Monday’s hearing. Martin recounted the scene as he arrived for a call for a stabbing victim that evening.
Martin testified that a green Mercury Mountaineer was at the scene and that Shupard was seated behind the wheel with a stab wound to the chest.
Additionally, Martin testified that a folding serrated knife was found about three feet from Emmell who he said was on a nearby sidewalk crying upon police arrival. Shupard was transported by ambulance to Reading Hospital shortly after police arrived on scene, Martin said.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, an investigation began about 11:56 p.m. Jan. and county Detective John Wittenberger.
Officers observed a large amount of blood outside the vehicle and droplets of blood in the street adjacent to the vehicle.
“Officers observed that Emmell’s hands were blood stained. Approximately three-feet from Emmell, resting on the street, was a blood-stained, serrated folding knife,” detectives alleged.
A 19-year-old woman at the scene told detectives Shupard
was her boyfriend and that she had a prior relationship with Emmell.
Pottstown Police Detective Heather Long testified Monday that she conducted interviews with both Emmell and the 19-year-old woman at the scene during the investigation.
Long stated that during that interview, the woman claimed that she was at one time in a relationship with Emmell and that Emmell had previously raped her on more than one occasion. According to a criminal complaint, she reported one of the rapes to police on Oct. 6, 2018.
The woman said that on Jan. 3 she agreed to meet Emmell and that she told Shupard to “drive around and keep any eye out” because she did not trust Emmell, according to the arrest affidavit.
“In addition to having Joshua Shupard in the area of the meeting place, she armed herself with a folding knife,” detectives alleged. “(The woman) explained the knife was previously given to her for
self-protection by Shupard after she had been raped by Emmell.”
The woman, driving a silver-colored Hyundai, picked up Emmell on North Evans Street and parked in front of the Pottstown Middle School at 546 N. Franklin St. After “talking for a while,” the woman told Emmell she had to leave, detectives alleged.
When Emmell acted threateningly toward her, the woman opened the car door and pulled out the folding knife. Emmell gained control of the knife, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.
The woman activated her car’s horn and placed her leg outside the driver’s door in an attempt to “signal” Shupard, who approached the Hyundai and inquired about what was happening, according to court documents. Emmell exited the woman’s vehicle and she told Shupard to “run” and informed Shupard that Emmell had her knife, detectives alleged.
A scuffle between the two men then ensued, at which time “Emmell swung the knife at Shupard three times, inflicting a wound to Shupard’s neck on the third
swing,” according to the affidavit of probable cause. Shortly after, Emmell allegedly stabbed Shupard in the chest, court documents state.
Shupard was pronounced dead at the hospital on Jan. 7 after remaining in critical condition since the incident. An autopsy determined the cause of death to be complications from stab wounds to the chest, according to the criminal complaint and testimony from Long.
Long also testified Monday that Emmell admitted during a police interview on Jan. 4 to stabbing Shupard and assaulting the woman on three previous occasions. Long stated that Emmell provided details of those incidents that were consistent with the woman’s statements.
Emmell was held on all charges Monday and is scheduled for a formal arraignment on April 10. According to court dockets, Emmell is charged with first and third degree murder, rape, sexual assault, possession of an instrument of crime and unlawful restraint. Bail was denied.