Nov 5, 2020 2 min read

A former Mon Valley resident indicted on charges of murder in West Virginia has been extradited to the neighboring state, and his trial date in Washington County Court has been moved to March.

Brian Lyon II, 39, of Donora, had a hearing last month before Judge Gary Gilman, who found that the prosecution met its burden of proof in demonstrating the prisoner who was in custody in Pennsylvania was the defendant charged in Marion County, W.Va.

Indicted in late June by a Marion County, W.Va., grand jury in Fairmont, Lyon faces charges of burglary; first-degree murder; first-degree robbery with a firearm; use of a firearm in the commission of a felony; kidnapping; first-degree sexual assault, and attempted first-degree murder.

In West Virginia, Lyon is accused of stealing a pickup truck in September of last year from Christopher W. Moses after killing the man and also shooting Dawn Smith, who survived.

The truck was later set afire alongside Interstate 70 in Somerset Township near the Avalon Motor Inn, from which he escaped. Police took him into custody Oct. 1, 2019.

In Washington County, Lyon has requested a jury trial in a separate case in which charges include attempted homicide and aggravated assault.

Lyon is accused of stabbing Melvin Gray in the back from behind Sept. 23, 2019, in a trailer on Dolly Lane in Union Township.

Gilman ordered that Lyon be extradited within 30 days of his Oct. 6 order, and the accused was not listed Wednesday among the Washington County jail population.

Issuing governors’ warrants were Jim Justice of West Virginia and Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, which Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar also had to sign.

Judge Valarie Costanzo this week scheduled jury selection in the Washington County case for the March trial term. Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann called the date “a place holder. We’ll have to wait until West Virginia is done with their charges.”

Lyon is represented here by Assistant Public Defender Jacob Mihalov.