Randolph

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A city man who participated in a robbery that left a man with a gunshot wound to the thigh was acquitted Thursday night of five of the seven felony counts against him, concluding a two-day trial that saw the defendant testify on his own behalf.

Keshaun Randolph, 25, was found not guilty of two felony counts each of robbery and aggravated assault and a single felony count of criminal trespass, while the jury found him guilty of felony criminal conspiracy and burglary for his role in the non-fatal shooting.

Randolph was remanded to the Blair County Prison pending sentencing on the two convictions. He had been free after posting $100,000 bail in April 2022.

The jury of four men and eight women deliberated late into the night in a process that nearly ended in deadlock. They were given the case about 5:35 p.m. and then, about 7:16 p.m., requested clarification from presiding President Judge Wade A. Kagarise on the law regarding the conspiracy charge.

The jury foreman sent a note to Kagarise about 9:35 p.m. stating that they were deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict. Kagarise brought the jury into the courtroom and asked the foreman if he thought having additional clarification of the law or retiring for the night and returning in the morning would help them decide the case. The foreman said no to both options. Kagarise then sent the jury back to their deliberation room to consider the options individually.

The jury sent Kagarise a second question about 10:14 p.m., asking for written instructions on the law regarding conspiracy, duress and reasonable doubt. Defense attorney Kristen Anastasi objected to the request, telling Kagarise that the court had read the law to the jury in its entirety.

“I feel that is sufficient,” Anastasi said.

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Thomas made no objections.

Kagarise ultimately granted the request and added the law regarding presumption of innocence, describing the request as “pretty straight-forward.”

After receiving the written instructions, the jury returned with a unanimous verdict about 11:10 p.m., about five and a half hours after deliberations began. When Randolph heard each guilty verdict, he let out a deep breath.

Earlier in the day, Randolph was called to testify on his own behalf by Anastasi, who began her questioning by asking him how he became homeless.

Randolph said when he turned 21, his mother kicked him, his brother and uncle out of her residence because she was “tired of taking care of grown ass men.”

Before going to a shelter, Randolph said he stayed with the victim and several other individuals at a residence along the 1000 block of Sixth Avenue. He then moved out of that residence when his belongings started to be stolen.

Randolph said he was seen moving his belongings out of the home either by a drug dealer known as Jahr Jahr or someone affiliated with them. Jahr Jahr contacted Randolph and accused him of being among the three people who stole a large amount of drugs and cash from him, with Randolph saying Jahr Jahr assumed that was what he was moving out of the victim’s residence.

Randolph told the jury that Jahr Jahr said he had “three killers” on his head. He also began noticing two individuals following him on a regular basis.

Jahr Jahr contacted Randolph a second time and said he spoke with people who knew Randolph and that he believed Randolph wasn’t involved. Randolph said Jahr Jahr told him that while Randolph didn’t rob him, he knew “what was going on” because Randolph frequented the victim’s residence.

When Anastasi asked Randolph about Jahr Jahr offering him $10,000, Randolph said it wasn’t in exchange for anything, although that amount “would change my life.”

“He just offered it,” Randolph said. “He told me ‘what I want you to do is stay out the way.'”

Randolph said his friend told him that he had been taken to “some house” by three other individuals who lived at the victim’s residence. While there, the four individuals broke into the home’s enclosed porch and stole “a bunch of bags” and two safes, Randolph said.

Randolph told the jury that his friend said the next morning “everything was gone” from the victim’s residence.

Anastasi then questioned Randolph on being followed and why he continued to communicate with Jahr Jahr.

“I was scared for my life,” Randolph said. “The few times I talked to them, I was just trying to clear my name.”

In describing the morning of the shooting, Randolph said he was forced into a car at gunpoint by two men wearing masks. After being patted down, Randolph said the men took his cellphone.

“In my head, I’m thinking ‘what can I do?'” Randolph said.

The two masked men drove Randolph to the victim’s house and told him to go inside and see who was there and if there were any weapons. Randolph said the men told him “if you try anything, we’ll light the place up.”

Randolph entered the house for several minutes, then exited, telling the masked men he wasn’t able to ascertain who all was present. He said the men then told him that he would go to the door and tell whoever answered that the two men needed “some ice,” meaning methamphetamine.

After the victim answered the door to Randolph, the two masked men pushed their way inside. Randolph said they began “tussling” with the gun and that he tried to run when it went off, striking the victim in the upper thigh.

“That sh** changed my life,” Randolph said as he started to choke up. “I’ve never been in a situation like that.”

One of the masked men forced him into the kitchen and held him there with a gun to his back, Randolph said. When one of the other residents appeared with a firearm, Randolph said the masked men fled out of the home’s back door. He also ran outside, but went to the front of the house rather than follow the gunmen, he said.

Toward the end of Randolph’s testimony, Anastasi asked him if he had planned the robbery, to which he said no. She then asked if there was anything on his cellphone that showed a plan to commit robbery.

“If there were, I believe the police would have found it because I gave them my phone,” Randolph said.

On cross-examination by Thomas, Randolph admitted to being high on methamphetamine at the time of the shooting and confirmed that he didn’t ask anyone to call the police when he had the opportunity.

In her closing arguments, Anastasi told the jury that Randolph was the only person arrested in relation to the shooting and described him as the “scapegoat.”

She pointed to Randolph breaking down during his testimony as an example of his honesty.

“You can’t fake that emotion on the stand,” Anastasi said.

She told the jury that Randolph’s story hadn’t changed in the four years since he was initially charged because “the truth doesn’t change.”

“It is completely nonsensical the case they brought before you,” Anastasi said.

Thomas then argued that Randolph was “actually put in a very interesting position” at the time of the incident. He reminded the jury that Randolph had described the offered $10,000 as “life-changing.”

Thomas also explained that the reason the masked men hadn’t given Randolph a mask or gun of his own was because Randolph being recognizable was their way into the home.

He closed his arguments by asking the jury to remember their common sense and find Randolph guilty.

Randolph’s sentencing will be in front of Kagarise, but has not yet been scheduled.

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