St. John enters guilty plea to reduced charges in Woodward Township shooting death

LOCK HAVEN, PA – There will not be an October trial in Clinton County Court for Brian St. John III. Instead, October will see his sentencing on reduced charges to which he entered guilty pleas on Tuesday afternoon before Judge Michael Salisbury.

As part of a plea agreement, prosecution charges of first and third degree murder were dropped while a charge of aggravated assault, a first degree felony, was added. That charge is in addition to a continuing misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter, part of the initial prosecution filing against the 22-year-old Woodward Township resident who has been in custody since the night of the fatal shooting on Feb. 26, 2021, at St. John’s residence.

Sentencing was set for Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 2:30 p.m. before President Judge Craig Miller. As part of his order accepting the St. John guilty plea, Judge Salisbury directed that a pre-sentence investigation be carried out.

Judge Salisbury meticulously questioned St. John to make sure he understood the charges to which he would be pleading guilty. He asked the defendant to tell the Court what he did to make him guilty, and St. John said, “My actions were reckless and negligent and they also caused the death of one of my go-to friends, Jake Haines, and I should have known better. I should have opened the chamber and correctly identified that the gun was unloaded.”

The solemn court proceeding lasted 25 minutes. District Attorney Dave Strouse, who is prosecuting the case, said in court that terms of the plea agreement were reviewed with the parents of the victim, and he said they had no objection to the agreement. He noted the parents were in attendance on Tuesday. The district attorney declined to comment afterwards.

St. John, clad in a Clinton County Correctional Facility jumpsuit, was returned there without bail as the proceeding concluded. He had an opportunity to converse briefly with family members who were in attendance.

St. John was initially 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 remains in custody at the Clinton County Correctional Facility since his arrest shortly after the incident.

The plea agreement included a provision that said the minimum sentence to be imposed by the Court would be capped at 72 months. The length of St. John’s incarceration will be up to Judge Miller.