Ricketts

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Philadelphia man taken into custody by local law enforcement and U.S. Marshals in 2023 was found guilty on four felony firearm charges by a Blair County jury Tuesday evening.

Kemar Ricketts, 35, was convicted on two felony counts each of firearms not to be carried without a license and possession of firearms prohibited. He was remanded to the Blair County Prison in lieu of bail.

Ricketts has remaining charges in this case that will be tried at a later date. He also has three additional active cases against him in Blair County.

The trial was scheduled for two days but was resolved in one, as jury deliberations concluded about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Testimony began Tuesday morning when District Attorney Pete Weeks called upon Altoona Police Sgt. Eric Heuston, who said he was a part of the team that executed a “high risk” arrest warrant on Ricketts.

Assigned to the “take-down vehicle,” Heuston said he was in contact with surveillance teams while stationed near Thompson’s Pharmacy in Juniata Gap. Once informed that Ricketts had left a residence along the 100 block of East Beech Court with two females in a Honda CR-V, Heuston said a traffic stop was performed.

The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Ricketts’ girlfriend at the time, and the front seat passenger were cooperative with officers and followed orders, Heuston said. Ricketts was out of sight, lying down in the Honda’s back seat, and delayed exiting the vehicle when commanded.

Altoona Police Sgt. Caleb Nixon, a member of the department’s tactical SWAT team, testified that he approached the Honda after Ricketts was detained. He said he approached from the passenger side of the vehicle and saw a black handgun in the pocket on the backside of the driver’s seat, which was within Ricketts’ reach.

The gun was identified as a Taurus 9mm that had 10 rounds in a magazine and one in the chamber.

He said Ricketts’ girlfriend, who owned the vehicle and residence they were seen leaving, gave officers consent to search both places. At the residence, a black backpack belonging to Ricketts was located. After obtaining a search warrant for the contents of the backpack, a second firearm, identified as a Ruger magnum revolver, was found inside. Officers seized the revolver, along with a durag and toothbrush, which Nixon said had “evidentiary value.”

On cross examination, defense attorney Jason Kadish asked Nixon if he took the Taurus from the vehicle, to which Nixon said no, but he was nearby when it was recovered.

Kadish then played officer-worn bodycam footage, which was central to his defense of Ricketts.

When the footage began, Nixon pointed himself out as he briefly walked through the frame. The officer wearing the camera briefly covered the lens and asked Nixon “good to go off?” to which Nixon can be heard replying “should be good.”

However, the bodycam remained on and showed the officer inspecting the firearm while wearing gloves. The officer is then seen picking up a dirty white rag from the back of the Honda and using it to wipe the gun before placing the rag back into the vehicle.

At that point, Kadish stopped the footage and asked Nixon if the rag was taken into evidence, and he said no. Nixon also said he didn’t remember seeing the officer wipe the gun. He said if he had, he “would have likely told him not to” due to possible contamination.

“This officer here doesn’t have the training I have,” Nixon said.

Nixon also confirmed that the gun being wiped was only recorded by bodycam footage and wasn’t written in the affidavit or any other report. He said the gun had been swabbed for DNA and searched for fingerprints after the officer’s inspection.

The officer was identified as Altoona Police Administrative Sgt. Thomas Venios when called to testify. He said he found the Taurus inside the vehicle, took it to the back of the Honda, cleared the gun and unloaded it.

Venios said he used a rag “to try to clear debris” so he could see the gun’s serial number. While attempting to read the serial number, he used the towel to “wipe it.” It was then decided to take the firearm back to the police department to inspect it under better lighting, he said.

Forensic DNA scientist Chelsie Weaver, who works for the state police, told the court that the swabs from the Taurus were found to contain a mixture of DNA from four individuals, including Ricketts.

The swabs from the revolver didn’t contain enough DNA to include or exclude Ricketts, Weaver said.

Kadish then asked Weaver if she could only analyze the submitted swabs against known samples, such as the DNA samples taken from the durag and toothbrush found inside the black backpack. Weaver said yes, and that Ricketts’ DNA was the only sample submitted for comparison.

In his closing, Kadish pointed to Weaver’s testimony about the limitations of DNA evidence and that the swab from the revolver “excluded” Ricketts.

“The video opens an entire Pandora’s box that should lead to acquittal,” Kadish said. “They had ample opportunity to handle this scene correctly. This record is replete with holes.”

Weeks then told the jury that it was Kadish’s job to poke holes in a case “and say it’s not good enough.”

Weeks argued that officers are sometimes required to make quick decisions and that Venios “did not know better.”

“Was that a mistake? Yes,” Weeks said. “Does that mean you should not have been shown this case? No.”

The jury deliberation was split into two parts, with the jury remaining in the dark about the second deliberation. They were first told to determine if Ricketts was guilty of carrying the firearms without a license and, after convicting Ricketts on those felony counts, were sent to deliberate again on if he was guilty of two felony counts of being a person not to carry firearms.

Between the first and second deliberations, Weeks informed the jury of Ricketts’ prior felony convictions, which include robbery, kidnapping, witness intimidation and attempted murder. This was excluded from previous testimony to prevent prejudicing the jury against Ricketts. However, to be a person not to possess firearms, the individual must have a prior felony conviction, making the information necessary for the second deliberation.

Ultimately, the jury found Ricketts guilty on all four felony counts.

Once the jury was dismissed, presiding President Judge Wade A. Kagarise told Weeks and Kadish that they would need to meet and decide how to proceed with the remaining charges in the case.

Ricketts still faces two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver, two misdemeanor counts of possession of controlled substances and a single misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. He also has three other active cases in Blair County and two cases in which he is awaiting sentencing in December.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.