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Penn State defense aims to improve vs. mobile QBs

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Wilkes-Barre Area’s 5th annual Harvest Festival reaches out to the community

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; With a .44-caliber handgun aimed at his face and the feeling he had nowhere to run, James Edward Roche says he shot Ronald &#8220;Barney&#8221; Evans out of necessity.&#8220;I was terrified. It was a huge gun,&#8221; he testified Thursday in Luzerne County Court. &#8220;I thought he was going to kill me.&#8221;Roche, 33, faces two counts each of criminal homicide and criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide in connection with the April 21, 2014, shooting deaths of Evans, 73, and his 43-year-old son Jeffrey Evans.After three days of testimony, Roche was the last to take the witness stand in his trial before Judge Fred A. Pierantoni III.Under direct examination by defense attorney Joanna Bryn Smith, who repeatedly addressed Roche as &#8220;Jimmy,&#8221; Roche told jurors he felt &#8220;terribly sorry&#8221; for killing the father and son.He said he and his girlfriend Holly Ann Crawford only went to the Evanses&#8217; Hunlock Township home so Roche could fight the men and recover a purse belonging to Crawford, which Roche claimed the younger Evans had stolen.But when Ronald Evans brandished a handgun from his elevated porch, Roche said he felt threatened and fired on the man from the driveway.Autopsy results showed four shots hit Evans &#8212; one in the his chest, one in his side and two in his back.Assistant District Attorney Mamie Phillips inquired of Roche why, if Evans had been facing him, had Evans been shot in the back.Roche said he suspects Evans must have turned &#8220;at the last second.&#8221;She also asked why shell casings were found on the porch near Evans&#8217; body if Roche fired each shot from the driveway.&#8220;They bounced up on the porch,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They fly everywhere.&#8221;&#8220;So now the shell casings have wings, Mr. Roche?&#8221; Phillips said.An objection from Smith prevented the defendant from answering.Roche said when he entered the home, Jeffrey Evans engaged him in a fistfight ending with Evans stunned on the floor.After he stood up, Evans headed into a hallway where Roche said he made a motion like he was reaching for a gun.&#8220;This is terrible,&#8221; Roche said he thought after gunning the man down.Searching Evans&#8217; after killing him, Roche said he determined the man in fact was not armed.Forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross testified that through an autopsy he determined the younger Evans had been shot five times &#8212; once behind his right ear and four times in his back.Ross said each of the shots caused &#8220;massive damage&#8221; and extensive internal bleeding. Any one of the shots alone could have proved fatal.Roche told Phillips he &#8220;wasn&#8217;t really aiming.&#8221;The defendant said he and Crawford spent the days following the shootings in a drunken haze, not unlike the way he said they spent most days.Claiming Ronald Evans often treated Crawford poorly and alleging the man raped her on one occasion, Roche made his feelings for Evans clear. And those ill feelings, he said, were mutual.Roche disputed prior testimony indicating he had threatened Evans&#8217; life on a daily basis, but said he had threatened the man on occasion.He also denied testimony alleging he announced while drinking and watching the movie &#8220;Boondock Saints&#8221; on April 21, 2014, that he was going to kill Evans.&#8220;I was watching a violent movie. There was violence on the screen. People are getting shot,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I said someone should shoot Barney.&#8221;Phillips then pointed out it was he who shot Evans.&#8220;It just worked out that way,&#8221; Roche said.When probed about inconsistencies in his recorded statement to police from April 23, 2014, and his testimony in court Thursday, Roche explained that he was &#8220;wasted&#8221; at the time of the first interview.He said he had &#8220;a stomach full of pills&#8221; after swallowing some 90 tablets in an attempt to kill himself before state police found him and Crawford.Throughout his testimony, Roche downplayed Crawford&#8217;s role in the shootings.&#8220;She didn&#8217;t do nothing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You guys gave her life in prison.&#8221;Crawford, 41, faces a mandatory life sentence after a jury in September convicted her of first degree murder in the Evanses&#8217; deaths.Early in his testimony, Roche briefly described a difficult childhood.The mother he never knew left when he was only two years old, Roche said, and as a trucker, his father often was away from home.Still, he said he managed straight A&#8217;s in school until his aunt introduced him to crack when he was 12 years old.Attorneys are expected to deliver their closing arguments this morning.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Roche </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL110315Roche23.jpg</photo0><caption0>Roche </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By James O&#8217;Malleyjomalley@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</shirttailMeta></div>

Double-homicide suspect James Roche testifies in own defense