FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) – Testimony in the murder trial of Richard Kennedy was delayed at least a day Thursday.
According to Venango County Judge Oliver Lobaugh, he was “dealing with motions” on Thursday that caused him to let the jury go at approximately 12:30 p.m.
The second day of the trial was supposed to resume at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday in Court Room 1 on the second floor of the Venango County Courthouse. But, while Kennedy, again dressed in a grey suit and black shirt, waited at the defense table, his lawyers, Robert Kinnear and James White, came in and out of the courtroom on a number of occasions.
Venango County District Attorney Shawn White was seen in the second-floor hallway of the courtroom but was only in the courtroom for a brief time before Lobaugh called all attorneys to his chambers shortly after 9:00 a.m.
The jury was kept waiting in the jury room from the time they arrived at approximately 8:45 a.m. until being dismissed.
Lobaugh wouldn’t disclose further detail on what the “motions” he was dealing with regarded, but he did send instructions to the jury to return at 8:45 a.m. Friday for the hopeful 9:00 a.m. start.
Kennedy is accused, along with his girlfriend Amanda Cypher, of kidnapping and killing Tausha Baker, of Franklin, on October 27, 2017, and then burning Baker’s body to cover up the crime.