by peter e. bortner
Vanessa Crawley testified Monday in Schuylkill County Court that she was sitting in a car one March night in Shenandoah when she saw two people starting trouble that quickly got worse.
"I heard a whole bunch of commotion," Crawley testified at the trial of James C. Stevens, 21, of Shenandoah. "The defendant pulled out a gun from his waistband and started shooting."
Crawley was the first witness that prosecutors presented to the jury that will decide the fate of Stevens, who is charged with 12 counts of simple assault, six each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, three of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and one of firearm not to be carried without a license.
Assistant District Attorney Douglas J. Taglieri finished presenting his case on Monday and Assistant Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, Stevens' lawyer, will start presenting his case when the trial, which is presided over by President Judge William E. Baldwin, resumes at 9 a.m. today.
Shenandoah police allege that Stevens fired six shots with a .40-caliber Star handgun into the house at 313 S. West St. about 10 p.m. March 27.
"She told me it was James" who fired the gun," borough Patrolman Michael J. O'Neill testified about Crawley.
Crawley was just as certain in her testimony.
"Is there any doubt in your mind that the man who fired the gun was the defendant?" Taglieri asked Crawley.
"No," she answered.
When cross-examined by Watkins, Crawley acknowledged she said at the preliminary hearing that she could not see well, but said she remembers the incident better now than she did at that time.
State police Cpl. James Cuttitta testified that the day after the shots were fired, he found a .40-caliber Star handgun wrapped in a T-shirt concealed in the back yard of Stevens' 321 W. Cherry St. residence.
"The T-shirt was pristine white in color. It looked like it had been recently placed there," Cuttitta testified.
Former Shenandoah police Chief Joseph W. Hall, who now is training to be a state police officer, testified that he photographed the T-shirt, pulled it from its hiding place and opened it to reveal the handgun and more.
"There was a spare magazine inside the T-shirt," he said.
O'Neill testified that when he interviewed Stevens, the defendant first denied being at the scene but later said he was there but he gave the gun to a man named Tyson, who did the shooting. James C. Stevens
· Age: 21
· Residence: Shenandoah
· Charges: 12 counts of simple assault, six each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, three of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and one of firearm not to be carried without a license