October trial date set in St. John homicide case

LOCK HAVEN, PA – The homicide trial for Brian St. John III has been set; it will be held in Clinton County Court in October.

According to the court calendar, the jury selection process will run from Oct. 3 through Oct.6. The trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Oct. 17 and end on or before Thursday, Nov. 2. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 12.

According to Clinton County Court Administrator Don Powers, the county intends to call 480 prospective jurors, hoping to get 240 to sit for selection. The court has planned six sessions of 40 jurors, to be questioned by President Judge Craig P. Miller as a group, and then subjected to individual voir dire questioning from attorneys for the two sides.

The trial schedule was developed after state the Superior Court affirmed Judge Miller’s decision to not recuse himself from hearing the case and District Attorney Dave Strouse, who had filed for the judge’s recusal, did not take the issue to the state Supreme Court.

St. John is accused of fatally shooting Jakob Lee Haines, 21, of Beech Creek, on Feb. 26, 2021, during a gathering in at the St. John home in Woodward Twp. The accused has been in custody at the Clinton County Correctional Facility since his arrest shortly after the inciden