Details released about pair charged with helping homicide suspect flee county
Court documents made available Friday morning detail the circumstances leading to charges against two additional people in the shooting death of Maximillian W. Halterman on Tuesday night.
Alec D. Miller was taken into custody Thursday at a home in Venango County. The 19-year-old Butler man is charged with one count of general homicide in the Tuesday night shooting death of Halterman at his Davis Road home.
Robbie Dunbar Jr., 27, of Butler, and Lamaria Franklin, 20, of Winfield Township, were each charged Thursday with third-degree felony for hindering apprehension or prosecution. They face up to 10 years in prison, allegedly for their roles helping Miller escape the county and elude authorities following Tuesday night's shooting.
They are each being held on $25,000 bail at the Butler County Prison. Miller is being held there without bail.
Dunbar and Franklin were arraigned late Thursday night before District Judge Lewis Stoughton, and are scheduled to appear before him again April 2 for preliminary hearings.
According to the affidavit, Dunbar allegedly lied to authorities during his initial interview and told them he had no contact with Miller other than a series of text messages he provided to police in which Miller discussed the homicide with him. The texts were time-stamped shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday, with the last one coming through at 9:44 p.m. with Miller telling Dunbar “yea I shot him in the neck and the head” (sic).
Upon further investigation, police learned Miller contacted Dunbar again at about 2 a.m. Wednesday and asked for a ride from a Bessmer Avenue home in the Lyndora neighborhood to a Jefferson Street home in Butler.
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