In Indiana County Court today, former SCI Pine Grove inmate Dwight Bowen will be sentenced for the killing of his cellmate, Luis Santiago, on January 1st, 2019. In September, a jury found Bowen, 44, guilty of third degree murder.
Bowen is already serving life in prison for the 2001 firebombing of a Philadelphia rowhouse that killed two small children and injured two adults. He claimed self-defense in the Santiago case, asserting that Santiago had suffered an epileptic seizure on the night of his death, but investigators learned that the two had ongoing disputes and Santiago had been strangled.
Also in court today, Judge Thomas Bianco will conduct a jury trial for 23-year-old Eugene Wesseh of Philadelphia, who is charged with rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, and two counts of indecent assault. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in November of 2016.
Judge Bianco will also preside over a driving under the influence jury trial for 27-year-old Grant Daniel McQuaide of Clarksburg.
Senior Judge Timothy P. Creany will conduct two jury trials for 61-year-old James E. Klingensmith of Clymer, who is charged with DUI in one case and habitual offenders in another.
