UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A southwestern Pennsylvania man goes on trial Monday in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son.
Twenty-nine-year-old Patrick Haney Jr. could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in Fayette County in the September 2011 death of Trenton St. Clair.
The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard (https://bit.ly/1oEItH6 ) reports that selection of jurors and alternates was completed Friday for the trial.
The child’s mother, 30-year-old Heather Forsythe of Point Marion, pleaded guilty last week to endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors allege that Haney systematically beat the boy over several weeks and that his mother knew about the abuse but did nothing to stop it.
They have recommended a sentence of 2½ to five years for Forsythe, who is scheduled to testify in Haney’s trial.
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