A jury reached a verdict Thursday evening in the case of a man accused of escaping from the Armstrong County Jail in July, and then killing a woman who lived nearby.
Robert Crissman Jr. was found guilty of first-degree murder, criminal homicide, escape, robbery of a motor vehicle and several other charges. He will serve life in prison.
KITTANNING, Pa. (AP) — Crissman was jailed for violating his parole on a previous drug conviction when, authorities say, he escaped July 30 while working as an inmate trustee. He then beat and strangled an acquaintance, Tammy Long, 55, in her home near the jail before he was arrested hours later.
"We have hard feelings. When somebody in our family gets hurt; you hurt one, you hurt us all," said Timothy Mohney, Tammy’s brother.
In the role of inmate trustee, Crissman was allowed outside so he could take food trays from a vendor's truck to inmates.
Dual investigations by the district attorney and a security contractor determined Crissman shouldn't have been given such a job because he had reported using heroin shortly before his arrest days before and was still exhibiting drug withdrawal symptoms.
On Tuesday, Long's boyfriend testified that Crissman showed up the morning of July 30 claiming to have car trouble. Unaware that Crissman had recently been jailed, he left for work only to see news reports about a jail break -- and his stolen pickup being described as Crissman's getaway vehicle -- a short time later.
"We believe his name came out on the news and it caused him to snap and do what he did,” said David Jackson, juror.
The jail’s warden resigned following the incident and reforms have been enacted, including an emergency alert system and a siren meant to warn nearby residents in the event of future escapes.
Long’s children have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and the former warden, noting security deficiencies highlighted in the two investigations conducted after Crissman's escape.
"We don't believe it was first degree. It wasn't planned. We don't believe it was preconceived notion to do that," said Chuck Pascal, defense attorney.
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