BY STACI WILSON

The attorney for a Susquehanna County man facing a homicide charge said a lot of questions remain unanswered following a preliminary hearing Monday in New Milford District Court.

All charges lodged against Jerry Mast, 24, of Hallstead, were held for trial by District Judge Jodi Cordner. Mast, along with his girlfriend Sarah Briggs, are accused of stabbing Roy Marvin to death on the rural Turkey Hill Road, in Great Bend Twp. then dumping his body over a bank.

In addition to criminal homicide, Mast is charged with robbery, criminal conspiracy to commit robbery of a motor vehicle, hindering apprehension or prosecution, theft by unlawful taking and abuse of a corpse.

Briggs faces a second degree murder charge, as well as the robbery, conspiracy and abuse of a corpse counts which were held for trial following a hearing held earlier this month.

District Attorney Jason Legg said he has not yet determined whether or not he will seek the death penalty against Mast.

In court, defense attorney Paul Ackourey asked bail be set for Mast.

Legg said the case may be a capital case and argued that bail be denied. The judge then denied the defense request for bail.

Following the hearing, Ackourey said that although it is early in the legal process and the investigation by police is continuing, he has questions about the extent of the woman’s involvement in Marvin’s death.

The defense attorney pointed out that some evidence presented in court came from Briggs’ statements to police following her arrest. “It’s all they have,” Ackourey said.

Mast and Briggs were arrested in the early morning hours of Feb. 12 after state troopers from Bradford County found them asleep in Marvin’s vehicle in a hotel parking lot.

Marvin was stabbed 29 times, according to Susquehanna County Coroner Anthony Conarton. He sustained wounds to the front and back of his body, as well as to his head and left hand.

Conarton said that several of the wounds were potentially fatal and that almost every vital organ had been hit. “I can only guess at which one was fatal,” he told the court.

A steak knife, believed by police to be the weapon used in the killing, was found near Marvin’s body about 100 feet from the roadway in a drainage ditch.

Pennsylvania State Police criminal investigator Mark Keyes also took the stand.

The officer detailed his role in the investigation, including his questioning of Briggs after her arrest.

Ackourey objected to the introduction of Briggs’ statement to police at the hearing calling her statement to investigators “totally self-serving.”

The defense attorney asked if Briggs would be available to testify at his client’s trial.

Although Assistant District Attorney Marion O’Malley was conducting the hearing for the prosecution, Legg said Briggs could be provided with limited immunity for her testimony against Mast but, he added, that did not need to be determined yet.

Testimony regarding Briggs’ statement to police was allowed and Keyes laid out a timeline of events leading up to and including Marvin’s death.

Briggs told police an argument between Mast and Marvin turned physical and that she witnessed the fight but did not know where the knife had come from. She also denied knowing the knife had come from her sister’s home. To date, according to testimony presented in court, only one weapon has been found.

Keyes said Briggs was asked how blood got in the car. She told police that Marvin had taken off his shirt and thrown it in the car, and then the fight continued.

Keyes also said Briggs said she heard Marvin say, “Why did you stab me?”

Briggs had told police she only got out of the car to move Marvin’s body from the roadway.

Keyes also told the court he had heard through the investigation that blood had been found on bottom, rear portion of Briggs’ shirt; and also on the driver’s side headrest in the vehicle.

The officer said he did not know the status of possible forensic testing on the clothing, vehicle or weapon.

Lead investigator on the case, Tpr. John Oliver provided details of the murder scene to the court; and the police work that led to identifying Marvin’s body.

Oliver also talked about the search for Mast and Briggs, after Briggs’ sister Miranda told investigators she believed the two were involved in his death.

The steak knife recovered by police at the scene was an identical match to one found in Miranda Briggs’ kitchen, Oliver said. He also told the court that Miranda Briggs told police that she had heard her sister and Mast going through the kitchen drawers and cupboards at her residence the morning of the murder before Marvin picked them up.

Oliver said he interviewed Mast following his arrest but said the questioning was cut short after Mast asked for an attorney.

In court, Oliver said suicide noted from Mast and Briggs had been left in the mailbox of Mast’s mother at her home in Bradford County. He said the letters left by both of them said “good-bye, as if they were suicide notes, and an apology for all they did.”

In his closing statement, Ackourey told the court that the only evidence against his client was Briggs’ statement.

O’Malley argued that the prosecution was not relying solely on Briggs’ statement, but the “totality of the circumstances.”