Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco last week granted a motion to withdraw aggravating circumstances in the homicide case against Nathanael Price, which could signal that the state attorney general’s office will no longer seek the death penalty against the man accused of the double homicide of a Cherryhill Township couple in October of 2016.
The AG’s office is prosecuting the case because Indiana County District Attorney Bob Manzi’s private law practice had a prior association with Price before Manzi became DA.
Price, who turned 25 last month, is scheduled for trial in November for the beating deaths of Timothy Gardner and Jacqueline Brink at the couple’s apartment. It was allegedly over a marijuana deal in which Price and co-defendant Justin Stephenson jumped Gardner and beat him to death with a pipe, then attacked and killed Brink because she would have been a witness. Two children sleeping in the apartment were unharmed.
Meanwhile, Stevenson continues his petition for relief from his conviction and life sentence for two counts of third degree murder. On Friday, the prosecution filed a motion to compel Stevenson’s attorneys to produce witness statements and documentation to support the petition and the defense filed a motion to rule that evidence inadmissible.
