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November 21, 2008

Pair ordered to court over downtown shooting

By Nancy Lowry

Two men accused in the shooting of a third man were ordered held for court yesterday.

Terrence Terrell Bigstaff, 18, of 706 Harbor St. and 6102 Turnabout Lane, Columbia, Md., and Charles Michael Henderson, 19, of 516 Fifth St., Beaver Falls, were held on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit homicide and criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. The commonwealth withdrew earlier charges of criminal conspiracy to commit robbery against the two, and a charge of carrying firearms without a license against Henderson.

District Judge Jerry Cartwright dismissed charges of carrying firearms without a license against Bigstaff, saying assistant district attorney Luann for Henderson and Jean Perkins representing Bigstaff — to lower their bonds. The two remain in the Lawrence County jail on $250,000 bond each.

Kearney also unsuccessfully requested that Cartwright acquit Henderson of all charges.

The two were charged following the shooting of Freedom, Pa., resident Brian Acierno, 20, then living in the City Rescue Mission in New Castle. He was shot in the chest with a small-caliber handgun about 6 p.m. Sept. 29.

Acierno was the only witness called at yesterday’s preliminary hearing.

According to Acierno, a few days before the shooting, he had given Bigstaff $60 for marijuana. However, he said, Bigstaff had failed to deliver the drugs.

Acierno said that on Sept. 29, he saw Bigstaff and Henderson on a street corner in New Castle and confronted them, demanding that his $60 be returned. He said he followed them to a fenced-in area near a downtown church.

“I was prepared to fight them if it came to that,” he said.

However, Acierno said, Bigstaff pulled a gun and Henderson shouted “Shoot him. Shoot him.”

Acierno said he was shot from 10 to 15 feet away, and the entire exchange took three to four minutes.

He said he knew Henderson from the Beaver County jail, but noted the two never did not get along. He also said he never saw Henderson with a gun.

In requesting the acquittal, Kearney noted Acierno had pursued the two defendants who were threatened by him and cornered. Perkins agreed, noting “the victim was actually the aggressor in this matter. The two men were backed against a wall by a man willing and able to fight them when the shooting occurred.”

Parkonen, however, argued the victim was unarmed.

“It was two against one,” she said. “Then Bigstaff pulled and pointed a gun and Henderson egged him on saying ‘Shoot him. Shoot him.’”

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