Train station murder hearing is postponed
Lawyer for accused killer objects to Zoom hearing
ABINGTON » Concerns about transporting inmates from the Montgomery County jail during the coronavirus outbreak apparently derailed a preliminary hearing for a Philadelphia man accused of fatally stabbing his exgirlfriend during an encounter at the Meadowbrook Train Station in Abington.
“I refused to do a hearing by Zoom and that’s why it was postponed. I’m just not going to do it,” defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. said Tuesday on behalf of accused killer Gilbert Newton III.
“I requested the continuance because I was told it was going to be conducted by Zoom and I objected because my client has a right to confront the witnesses. I need to be in-person, to be there to talk to the witnesses and to interact with my client and for so many other reasons I just won’t do it,” Peruto said.
Newton’s preliminary hearing originally set for 1:15 p.m. Tuesday before District Court Judge John D. Kessler of Abington will now occur at a later date. A new date has not yet been scheduled.
For the most part, since the pandemic began in March, hearings for defendants housed at the jail have occurred via various teleconferencing systems, such as Zoom, during which inmates, if they agree, appear on camera from the jail at their hearings.
County officials have tried to limit transporting inmates from the jail to the courthouse and district courts as a precaution during the pandemic.
“My client hasn’t had contact with any other inmates. He’s been in quarantine, as all prisoners are for the first 14 days that they enter,” Peruto claimed, suggesting an in-person hearing for Newton could have been held.
Peruto said he was even willing to agree to move Newton’s hearing to a more spacious courtroom at the county courthouse in Norristown, instead of the smaller district court office, which would allow
for better social distancing.
Newton, 18, of the 8500 block of Ferndale Street, Philadelphia, faces charges of first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the alleged 8:15 a.m. July 27 fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Morgan Darlyn McCaffery, of Abington, as the pair reportedly met on the parking lot of the train station to discuss their relationship.
Newton is being held at the jail in Lower Providence without bail.
The investigation began when Abington police responded to the train station
parking lot at Lindsay Lane and Mill Road for a report of a disturbance and found McCaffery lying in the parking lot, covered in blood, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective William Mitchell and Abington Detective Donald Lindenmuth.
“The officers observed apparent stab or cutting wounds to the woman’s stomach and neck, as well as scrapes to her arms,” Mitchell and Lindenmuth wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding McCaffery was lying on her back in the parking lot near her vehicle, a Toyota RAV4.
“The car was running
and there was a large bloodstained Ginsu knife on the passenger-side floor. Under the victim’s body detectives found another Ginsu knife handle with a partial blade. The presumed remainder of the blade was on the ground between the victim and the victim’s car,” Mitchell and Lindenmuth added.
An autopsy determined McCaffery sustained “at least 30 stab and slash wounds” and her death was ruled a homicide.
A short time later, Philadelphia police responded to a 911 call at Newton’s Ferndale Street residence where Newton’s mother “told them her son was covered
in blood and had said that he had hurt his girlfriend,” according to the criminal complaint.
Police, according to court papers, observed Newton sitting on a couch, “blood on his pants, hands and tshirt.” Authorities also observed blood on the outside of the driver’s side door of the white Jeep vehicle allegedly operated by Newton at the time of the attack, according to the arrest affidavit.
Newton allegedly confessed to police that he had stabbed McCaffery and officers observed that he had wounds to his hands, specifically a cut to his right hand.