Double homicide jury trial delayed

Payne, Lewis accused in killing of two people at Beale Ave. home

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The jury trial for two people facing murder charges in the 2020 shooting deaths of two people inside an Altoona residence has been delayed until the end of the year.

Blair County President Judge Elizabeth A. Doyle on Friday canceled September's jury selection and trial for Isiah "Zay" Payne, 35, Philadelphia, and Onya Lewis, 34, a Gallitzin resident at the time of the May 28, 2020, shooting.

Both have been in the county prison since July 15, 2020, when Payne was charged with first-

degree murder in the deaths of Mikal Jackson-Stevenson, 28, of Philadelphia, and Natalie Washington, 52, of Altoona, found dead inside Washington's residence on the 2600 block of Beale Avenue.

Lewis, who provided Payne with a ride to and from Washington's residence at the time of the shooting, is facing second-degree murder and related charges.

Doyle, who met Friday with attorneys involved in the cases, spoke in court about the amount of outstanding work to be completed, then moved the case's jury selection, anticipated in September, to the week of Nov. 13 to 17.

Because Payne could be sentenced to death if convicted of first-degree murder, jury selection is expected to take several days so attorneys have time to question each of the potential jurors about their feelings on the death penalty.

Doyle said Friday that she would avoid resuming jury selection during the week of Nov. 20 to 24, because of Thanksgiving. It could resume the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, she said, but once a jury is seated, the trial could begin.

Also in court Friday, defense attorney Thomas Hooper, appointed to represent Payne in the death penalty portion of the trial, spoke of his intention to file a pretrial motion challenging consideration of the death penalty. Hooper said later that it would be based on his client's due process rights.

District Attorney Pete Weeks' motion to seek the death penalty has been on file since October 2020. As aggravating circumstances to back up the pursuit, the filed notice accuses Payne of shooting both Jackson-Stevenson and Washington and doing so while violating the state's drug-trafficking laws. Arrest records indicate that Payne had been selling drugs for about three weeks for Jackson-Stevenson and that after the shooting, Payne took cash and cocaine from Jackson-Stevenson's body.

Hooper told Doyle that despite his best efforts, he has not yet been able to arrange for Payne to have a neuropsychological evaluation. It's expected that the evaluation will be completed before trial.

Doyle is also being asked for rulings on several pretrial matters, including ones that decide what testimony is permissible at trial.

Defense attorney Richard Corcoran is objecting to a request that Weeks and First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith filed in March, seeking to prevent testimony about Payne's alleged claim to police that he was acting in self-defense. Weeks and Smith describe that claim as self-serving, with no evidence to support what Payne said.

"Defendant Payne admitted to police that the victim (Jackson-Stevenson) was facing away from him at the time he shot," the prosecutors stated in a pretrial motion. "No reasonable person could infer that (Payne) was in imminent danger of death or that using deadly force was reasonably necessary in that moment to save himself."

Corcoran, in a response he filed Friday with the court, accused prosecutors of trying to limit the presentation of evidence and cross-examination of witnesses in a way that "only fits into (their) narrative of the case."

Corcoran is also challenging a request to bar testimony about Payne's claim to police that he was in fear for his own safety and for the safety of his mother, partly based on threatening statements Payne attributed to Jackson-Stevenson.

Weeks and Smith are on record asking for those statements to be kept out of trial because they're hearsay.

In the response filed Friday, Corcoran made the argument that allowing the jurors to hear only some portions of Payne's statement to police will create reliability issues.

"The commonwealth has to take the good with the bad if it intends to offer defendant Payne's statements," he wrote.

Defense attorney Kristen Anastasi, representing Lewis, is also asking Doyle for pretrial rulings, including one seeking to have Lewis tried separately from Payne.

While Judge Timothy M. Sullivan previously ruled in favor of a joint trial, Anastasi told Doyle that she is raising different reasons than the ones Sullivan considered in his ruling.

Anastasi suggested that if Lewis has a separate trial, she could call Payne as a witness and have him speak of the statement he gave to police about Lewis' lack of involvement in the fatal shootings. Weeks said that based on his prior experience, that option presents the risk of a mistrial and no obligation on Payne's part to testify.

Anastasi also told Doyle that the jury should hear testimony about her client's mental health condition that reflects traumatic life experiences including sexual abuse and sexual assaults.

In Lewis' interview with a forensic psychiatrist, she described Payne as "nicest, kindest paramour that she ever had," a statement Anastasi said could help the jurors understand her client's behavior and why she was with Payne at the time of the shooting.

Weeks proposed that such testimony is legally irrelevant and being offered to cultivate sympathy, something Anastasi denied.

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