An admitted murderer is claiming her legal council was ineffective during pre-trial proceedings in a conspiracy killing case. Now, she’s looking for a new trial.
Kristen Marie Edmundson, 22, of Duncansville, is currently serving a life sentence in a state correctional institute for the role she played in the killing of a Hollidaysburg woman in 2001.
This morning, Blair County District Attorney Dave Gorman confirmed that Edmundson has filed a Post Conviction Relief Act petition with the court of common pleas seeking a new trial.
“This is something that happens in just about every kind of case like this, whether it is a plea or a conviction,” said Gorman, noting that Edmundson did enter into a guilty plea agreement for first-degree murder charges in January of 2003. “What she is claiming is that her attorney was in some way ineffective during the proceedings.”
Terry Despoy, an Altoona-based attorney, represented Edmundson through her plea agreement. He was unavailable for comment this morning.
Gorman said the court has already appointed legal council for Edmundson, and has given 60 days to Centre County attorney Ed Blanarik to review Edmundson’s petition and decide if there is any merit to it.
“If he sees that in some way the lawyer was ineffective, the court will grant a hearing to determine if enough evidence exists to take the proceedings back to trial, or to where the wrong doings occurred,” said Gorman.
Edmundson was charged with the killing, along with now 21-year-old Marie Louise Seilhamer of Ashville, following the May 5, 2001 murder of 20-year-old Hollidaysburg resident Shari Lee Jackson. Seilhamer was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder in July 2003.
Gorman and the commonwealth claimed Edmundson’s jealousy over Jackson beginning a relationship with another woman caused the defendants to work out a murder plot and carry it through.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Seilhamer and Edmundson drove Jackson to a pull-off area in Clearfield County where, police said, Seilhamer repeatedly struck Jackson with a wooden baseball bat. The affidavit also states Edmundson slit Jackson’s throat after the beating was over. The two then loaded the body in a truck and transported the corpse a short distance, over the Blair County line.
