Inmate gets more time for accessing internet

Wyrick serving 21 to 80 years for 2017 murder

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A state prison inmate now serving 21 to 80 years for third degree murder was sentenced Friday to additional 18 months to seven years because while incarcerated last year in the Blair County Prison, he broke the law by accessing the internet.

Devon Lee Wyrick, 28, now an inmate at the state prison at Camp Hill, rendered guilty pleas by video on Friday in Blair County Court to charges of unlawful use of a computer, criminal use of a communications facility, contraband possession of a telecommunications device and theft.

Judge Jackie Bernard accepted Wyrick's pleas and imposed the negotiated sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Ian Hausner and defense attorney Tyler Rowles submitted the proposed plea to address Wyrick's charges filed by Hollidaysburg police in July based on a May 13 offense.

At that time, Wyrick was being housed in the Blair County Prison, awaiting trial in Somerset County on homicide and related charges in the 2017 deaths of Damian Staniszewski, 19, of Portage and Duncansville and James Smith, 32, of Portage.

On the eve of his jury trial in November, Wyrick rendered guilty pleas to third-degree murder and related offenses, resulting in his 21- to 80-years' sentence.

Wyrick, while testifying during the trial of co-defendants Samson Washington and Marekus Benson, said Staniszewski and Smith were killed in a wooded area along Ligonier Pike because they stole large quantities of drugs and money from the East Main Money Gang's stash house in Johnstown. Washington and Benson, convicted of first-degree murder, are serving life sentences without parole.

In addressing the Blair County charges for the internet access violations, Wyrick advised the judge that he felt like he was backed into a corner with no other options.

Bernard told Wyrick he had the option of a habeas corpus hearing to challenge the evidence, as scheduled Friday, or he could take his charges into a jury trial. Wyrick disagreed and told her: "I was going to lose the habeas, and I was going to lose the trial."

Wyrick also told the judge that he feared that if he didn't render guilty pleas for the sentence with 18 months' incarceration, then any future plea would be for even more jail time.

Bernard reminded Wyrick that the district attorney's office isn't obligated to provide him with a plea offer.

"In my other case," Wyrick said, "I was dragged down by not being able to walk away from the situation ... When it comes to the sentence now, it just feels like insult to injury."

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.