The remaining defendant in the October 2016 beating deaths of a Cherryhill Township couple avoided a jury trial today by entering two guilty pleas to third degree murder in Indiana County Court.
Jury selection was to begin today for 25-year-old Nathanial Price, but rather than face a trial that could potentially lead to a conviction for first degree or second degree murder, Price agreed to plead guilty to third degree murder, plus two counts of reckless endangerment and single counts of robbery, conspiracy to robbery and criminal mischief.
Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco sentenced Price to a total of 65 to 130 years in state prison, with 20 to 40 years for each count of third-degree murder, 10 to 20 years each for robbery and conspiracy, 1 to 2 years for each count of reckless endangerment, and 3 to 6 years for the criminal mischief count. He could be eligible for parole in the future.
Co-defendant Justin Stevenson previously pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree murder and is serving life in prison without the chance for parole. He has filed a petition for relief.
A third defendant, Isaiah Scott, was only 17 years old at the time and had his case adjudicated in the juvenile probation system. He fled the scene when he saw the assault take place.
Investigators said Price and Stevenson went to the home of Timothy Gardner and Jacqueline Brink, purportedly to buy marijuana, but that Stevenson pulled out a metal pipe and struck Gardener with it, knocking him down. Price and Stevenson both then beat Gardener to death and Stevenson admitted he went upstairs and stole a safe. Price claimed that Stevenson beat Brink to death with a baseball bat while he was upstairs, but Stevenson contended that he came back downstairs and Price went upstairs and killed Brink because she would have been a witness. Two young children sleeping upstairs were not harmed.
