March trial set for accused killer
NORRISTOWN » A judge has set a March trial date for a Philadelphia man accused of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend during an encounter at the Meadowbrook Train Station in Abington.
In an order filed on Thursday, Montgomery County Judge Henry S. Hilles III said the jury trial for accused killer Gilbert Newton III will begin on March 15. The judge added that a hearing on all pretrial motions will be held on Feb. 10 in a courtroom to be determined at the county courthouse.
The trial is expected to last several days. Assistant District Attorney Kathleen McLaughlin and co-prosecutor Gabrielle Hughes are handling the case. Defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr. represents Newton.
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 county jail in Lower Providence without bail while awaiting trial.
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 t-shirt.” 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.
During the investigation, friends of McCaffery told detectives that the young woman and Newton ended their year-long relationship about a month before the alleged fatal attack. One friend told detectives that McCaffery had contacted her after the breakup and claimed that Newton had “threatened her and she was scared for her safety,” Mitchell and Lindenmuth alleged in court papers.
Newton allegedly had been contacting McCaffery “in an attempt to rekindle the relationship claiming he was going to ‘ fix things’ or change himself, detectives said.