Aikens’ defense pulls evaluation petition

Suspect facing 2nd-degree murder in officer’s shooting

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- An Altoona man facing second-degree murder and related charges in the 2021 shooting death of a Blair County corrections officer has moved another step closer to trial.

Defense attorney Richard Corcoran, representing Christopher J. Aikens, 56, said in court Friday that he was withdrawing a petition for a psychiatric evaluation of his client.

That announcement, plus rulings by President Judge Elizabeth A. Doyle, allows Aikens' case to remain scheduled for jury selection on Oct. 23 and a trial starting Nov. 13.

Aikens, who was a county prison inmate on Nov. 17, 2021, when transported to Central Court in Altoona for a hearing, is accused of taking a gun from corrections officer Rhonda Russell and using it to hold her hostage as part of an escape attempt.

Altoona Police Sgt. George Bistline, who was at Central Court to testify in another case, responded to a disturbance and saw Aikens with Russell in an area designated for female inmates.

Upon drawing his gun, Bistline fired at Aikens but instead struck Russell, causing her death.

District Attorney Pete Weeks said Friday that he is preparing about 35 witnesses for trial, including state police investigators, Altoona police officers, sheriff deputies, county prison personnel and attorneys. The witness list also includes state police personnel from its Use of Force Review Team. In a report issued after the fatal shooting, the team concluded that Bistline's actions were justified.

In recent months, Corcoran has raised several challenges on Aikens' behalf, including ones that would bar or curb the use of statements Aikens made to investigating officers shortly after the shooting.

In speaking to the officers, Aikens acknowledged a desire to escape, but he also said he didn't understand why Bistline fired.

While Bistline died a few weeks after the fatal shooting from natural causes, Weeks said Friday that he anticipates showing the jury a police officer's body camera video of Bistline stating what happened.

While presiding over Friday's pretrial hearing, Doyle rejected an argument Corcoran offered earlier this year. The defense attorney maintained that because of the state's corpus delicti rule, convictions based solely on a defendant's out-of-court statements haven't been upheld.

"The court finds there is other evidence to support the prima facie case. ... The corpus delicti rule has not been violated," the judge said.