Teen to be tried as adult in Uniontown shooting death
Ed Riedmann
A Uniontown teenager charged with homicide in a 2023 shooting death will be tried as an adult after a Fayette County judge rejected his request to move the case to juvenile court.
Antonyo Owens, 16, had demonstrated an escalating level of aggressive and antisocial behavior in the years leading up to his arrest, and has not been able to prove that he would respond to treatment, President Judge Steve Leskinen said in his ruling.
“(Owens) has demonstrated a callousness for the value of human life and a criminal sophistication that cannot be resolved in the juvenile system,” Leskinen said in the ruling, filed Dec. 30 in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas. “His criminal record, his behavioral history in placement and his increasingly serious criminal behavior all mandate a denial of his petition for decertification.”
Owens, then 14, was charged as an adult after the death of Anthony Jones, 38, of Uniontown in June 2023. Police said Owens shot Jones first in the head, then the face, near the Calvary United Methodist Church on Clark Street in Uniontown before fleeing.
Jones’ death was allegedly orchestrated by Calvin Huffman, 39, of Uniontown, who police said paid Owens with $5,000 in cash and three bags of marijuana. Huffman was charged with criminal solicitation to commit criminal homicide in 2024. His trial has been delayed while prosecutors appeal a ruling that stopped them from seeking a death sentence.
Leskinen heard testimony from forensic psychiatrists Dr. Joseph Roberts, a defense witness, and Dr. Bruce Wright, a witness for the prosecution. He also reviewed the video of the shooting, Owens’ juvenile criminal record and records from George Junior Republic and Youth Forestry Camp, two places Owens had been stationed after being removed from public school for repeated fighting when he was 8.
Owens had experienced a volatile home life, both due to his mother’s inability to maintain a stable home and from his own behavioral issues, the ruling said.
Roberts and Wright both found Owens to have severe conduct disorders and cannabis use disorders; he had also been diagnosed with anxiety, bipolar and other disorders. Both doctors also agreed Owens showed above-average criminal sophistication.
They disagreed on how he would respond to treatment. Roberts said Owens’ verbal ability, openness and ability to take responsibility for his action would lend itself to rehabilitation. Wright was more skeptical, pointing to Owens’ repeated acts of aggression.
Leskinen leaned towards Wright’s conclusion, saying his actions showed “no remorse or guilt” for his assaultive behavior toward his peers and staff.
Owens had previously faced other charges as a juvenile. Those include an aggravated assault charge from a 2021 incident where he repeatedly attempted to stab police officers with a serrated knife, and one the following year at the Transformation Learning Center alternative school, where he punched a teacher in the face with a closed fist.
Despite receiving therapy, behavioral and emotional support over the past several years, Leskinen wrote, Owens had demonstrated an “unwillingness to conform to acceptable behavior in any available environment.”
“The lack of any significant progress despite these extreme efforts suggests that the relatively short time remaining while (Owens) could be subject to juvenile court jurisdiction is insufficient to accomplish any substantial improvement,” Leskinen wrote.