Clemons formally sentenced to death
Clad in the orange garb issued by Washington County jail instead of the shirt, tie and trousers he wore during his trial, Jordan Clemons came to court Friday morning for his formal sentencing the day after a jury determined he should receive the death penalty for the murder of his former girlfriend.
“May God save your soul, Mr. Clemons,” Judge Gary Gilman told the defendant after he imposed the sentence. Clemons, 26, was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the brutal killing of Karissa Kunco, whose throat was slashed. Her naked body was found covered with brush and a tree stump Jan. 12, 2012, in a wooded area of Mt. Pleasant Township, the day after she was reported missing to Baldwin Borough police. A jury deliberated for about three hours Thursday before deciding Clemons deserved to die by lethal injections rather than be imprisoned for life.
As he left the courtroom, he told the judge, “God bless you, too.”
Although Gilman gave Clemons the opportunity to address the court, those four words were among the few Clemons uttered. To the judge’s questions about appeal rights, Clemons answered, “Yes, sir,” or, through Deputy Public Defender Brian Gorman, requested clarification.
Gorman relayed to the court Clemons wants to be transferred to a state prison as soon as possible. The state correctional system will evaluate him before placing him on death row.
Clemons’ family declined comment following the sentencing.
Gilman began the 20-minute proceeding by saying, “I will expect everyone to remain calm and behave appropriately. Some of that was not demonstrated yesterday, and that does not please the court. If that happens again today, you will be escorted out of the courtroom.” A half dozen sheriff’s deputies were stationed in the courtroom along with three uniformed state troopers and the investigator in the murder case, Trooper Thomas Schuster.
A group of Kunco’s family members reacted with cheers, hand-clapping and arms raised in victory Thursday afternoon despite the judge’s prior admonishment that he expected all gathered to hear the jury’s decision to behave respectfully.
Because a Washington County jury has not rendered a death sentence for the past 15 years, the first-degree murder charge has received the bulk of attention. But Clemons, a scholastic football standout who formerly lived in Canonsburg, also was found guilty of additional counts related to the murder, and the judge also passed sentence on those, including access device fraud related to unauthorized use of a credit card to make a $317 purchase, 10 to 20 months concurrent; abuse of a corpse, 11 to 22 months consecutive; and tampering with physical evidence, four to 8 months concurrent.
Each charge carries a sentence that potentially would remain in effect if a higher court overturned Clemons’ murder conviction. Death penalty cases are automatically reviewed by the state Supreme Court.
Assistant District Attorney Chad Schneider withdrew charges of flight to avoid apprehension, burglary, robbery, criminal trespass and simple assault filed by Canonsburg police.
Schneider also asked that Clemons pay restitution through Allegheny County to Kunco’s family for funeral expenses and grief counseling, and noted that her family members, some of whom testified at the trial, elected not to add victim impact statements to Friday’s proceedings.
The judge ordered Clemons, escorted by sheriff’s deputies, to leave the courtroom while all others remain. Gorman exited with his client, but the sentencing hearing was his last courtroom appearance with the Washington County public defender’s office, where he has worked for 11 years in two stints, plus a year and a half as a public defender in Crawford County.
On Monday, he starts a new job as director of Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services Inc., which provides free legal aid in civil cases to low-income residents of Washington, Greene, Fayette and Somerset counties. He was a staff attorney for the agency in 2001 and also was a member of the board from 2010 until last year.
“I delayed my start date there until after this trial” to handle the Clemons case through its conclusion, Gorman wrote in an email late Thursday after a post-trial interview in the public defender’s office in Courthouse Square.
“There’s nothing you can say positive about a death sentence,” Gorman said. “It’s just inhumane and wrong to cage people like animals like we do on death row. I can’t see how that advances society or makes us any better as a society. It sickens me.” At the same time, he expressed sympathy for both the victim and her family.
Clemons’ appeals will be handled either by the public defender’s office or, if the defendant requests, other counsel appointed by the court at taxpayer expense.
“You take a case where you’re already putting everything you have into it, and it refocuses you,” Gorman said. “When it’s your last one, you can’t help but refocus and reflect.”