Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio has granted continuances for the pretrial conferences scheduled last week for two of the three defendants in the murder of a New Florence woman. The third defendant, the victim’s daughter, will have a status conference next month, at which time the judge will hold a hearing on motions to exclude evidence against her.
Bilik-DeFazio has not announced a new date for the pretrial conferences for Matthew Bates and Robert Jack, the two 19-year-old men who each accuse the other of shooting 71-year-old Alice Robson to death in December 0f 2023 at her home along Furnace Lane.
The proceedings against 50-year-old Melissa Fox-Beacom, who allegedly asked the men to kill her mother, are scheduled for March 28th. Robson’s body was found buried underneath her back porch.
Trial dates for the three defendants have not yet been set.
