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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The 182 jurors summoned to Blair County Court on Monday were dismissed in late morning after plans for two pending trials fell through.
The jurors were originally part of a group summoned to be considered for an Altoona man's trial on second-degree murder and related charges in the 2021 shooting death of a county corrections officer. But when Christopher Aikens' trial was postponed until later this year, the already-summoned jurors were told to report so they could be considered for other trials.
Of the two pending trials on tap Monday for jury selection, one was postponed due to the unavailability of an expert witness and the second trial was resolved with a negotiated plea.
"Sometimes I get to send you home," President Judge Elizabeth Doyle told the summoned jurors, who seemed to welcome the news that would limit their service to a little less than a half day.
In response to their summons, many of the jurors had driven to Antique Depot in Duncansville where they parked their vehicles and rode a bus to the Courthouse. They also waited in line at the front door to go through security, then waited in line to report their arrival.
Subsequently, the jurors waited in Courtroom 1, where they heard Doyle offer some instructions on jury selection and trial procedures, before she returned to her own courtroom while jurors were offered a restroom break.
In her own courtroom, Doyle accepted guilty pleas from defendant Forrest Beals of Tyrone to criminal use of a communications facility, conspiracy to possession with intent to deliver and possession with intent delivery filed by Hollidaysburg Borough police in April 2022.
Those charges were filed in connection with an investigation where police believed Beals, then living in Hollidaysburg, was making regular trips to Pittsburgh to buy heroin for sale in Blair County.
Beals' guilty pleas also addressed possession with intent to deliver charges filed against him in June by Tyrone Borough police. Those charges landed him in the county prison as of June 3 where he has remained on $25,000 cash bail.
In exchange for Beals' guilty pleas, Doyle imposed the recommended state sentence of two to four years' incarceration, plus three years' consecutive probation. He is eligible for entry into the state's Drug Treatment Program.
Defense attorney Scott Pletcher said Beals would have been facing more incarceration time had he gone to trial and been convicted.
The jurors who participated in Monday's process will be excluded from future jury service for two years based on the county's longstanding practice.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.