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Family, friends protest in stabbing incident
The killing was justified by self-defense, the district attorney insists.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Friends and family of Tommy Nail, 19, killed during a fight on a back road in Shenango Township in March, say they don’t believe justice is being done for him.
About 50 people protested at the Lawrence County Government Center on Thursday. At one point, they left their signs behind and came inside to meet with county District Attorney John Bongivengo.
He did not meet with them, saying later that he does not want to meet with 50 people to go over evidence and law without the state police present.
“And I’m waiting on a verdict of a homicide,” said Bongivengo, who was waiting for the jury to return in the murder case of Gaylord Spell, charged with first-degree homicide in the slaying of a New Castle woman two years ago.
In his waiting room, protesters were told that he would meet with Nail’s parents at another time.
It was an answer that did not sit well with the group, but they obligingly left his office and returned to their protest outside.
Miranda Hookway, 17, Nail’s girlfriend, and Samantha Nail, 23, his sister, said they are unhappy that the person charged in the case, Joseph Clyde McCormick, 26, of New Castle, is free on bond.
McCormick is charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and solicitation to commit aggravated assault. He is accused of setting up the fight near Pennsylvania Avenue and Bryson Hill Road in Shenango on March 24.
The area is known as a party spot, said Bongivengo, adding that he is not responsible for setting the bond.
McCormick is not charged with actually killing Nail.
Another young man stabbed Nail nine times with a pocket knife as he and Nail fought in a nearby creek, said Bongivengo and Hookway.
Hookway was there that night but did not see the fight. She was waiting about 15 feet away in Nail’s truck.
The person who stabbed Nail had been lured to the area with a friend — they thought there would be a party, Bongivengo said.
Hookway said through sobs that eventually she went to look for Nail and found him after the stabbing. She said she tried to carry him back to the truck, then called 911.
Hookway also said she doesn’t believe the person who stabbed Nail should escape being charged: “Nine times isn’t self-defense,” she said.
Bongivengo responded that the stabbing was done with a pocket knife. Six of the stabs didn’t break the skin. Two were superficial wounds. The last one, the fatal wound, was to the upper chest as the other young man was flailing with his head underwater during the fight.
He said the two who were set up had run separate ways, and Nail chased down the one who ultimately stabbed him. That scenario is as good a case of self-defense as it gets, Bongivengo insisted.
“Self-defense is a justification for any homicide. That’s why he’s not charged.”
McCormick was to appear at Lawrence County Central District Court for a preliminary hearing Thursday. The hearing was postponed until 9:30 a.m. May 19. He is free on $25,000 bond.