Scottdale man not guilty of Hempfield armed robbery

A Scottdale man who confessed to an armed robbery of a woman in a Hempfield parking lot more than four years ago was found not guilty by a jury on Thursday.

After about 90 minutes of deliberations, jurors acquitted Norman Jack, 30, of robbery, theft and three other related offenses in connection with an incident in which a Blairsville woman said she was robbed at gunpoint while she sat in her parked car at Greengate East Plaza on Nov. 30, 2016.

Jack, who is Black, contended he was linked to the crime by a white woman based on racial stereotypes and through a tainted identification process by police.

The defense argued during the four-day trial before Westmoreland County Judge Megan Bilik-DeFazio that race was a major factor in the case. Defense attorney Tim Dawson argued that Jack was first identified by his accuser at a preliminary hearing during which he was the only Black person in the courtroom. He also criticized police for not seeking a more detailed identification through the use of a photo lineup.

“I think race played a role in the misidentification of my client,” Dawson said. “Unfortunately, we had an identification the first time the victim saw a Black defendant sitting handcuffed in a courtroom.”

Dawson said Jack was expected to be released from the county jail Thursday night, where he has been held in custody since 2018 as he awaited trial.

In court earlier this week, 56-year-old Sophia King told jurors she was certain Jack was the robber based on his eyes when she pointed him out in the courtroom.

King testified Jack drove up to her parked car, asked to borrow her phone to call his wife, identified himself as “Jack or Jackson” then pulled a gun and demanded her purse before he crashed into her vehicle as he sped away. Police told jurors they linked Jack to the crime through cellphone records and the description from King of both the man and his car.

Jack was arrested two days later, on Dec. 2, 2016, following a traffic stop near New Stanton, when prosecutors said he confessed to the robbery.

Jack testified he confessed under duress and that he repeated facts given to him by detectives to protect his wife after police found a gun stuffed down her shirt during the traffic stop. On the witness stand this week, Jack recanted his confession and both he and his wife testified they were visited by police at home at the same time the robbery was to have occurred.

“The jury demanded more proof,” Dawson said. Prosecutors, he argued, presented no additional evidence to support the case against Jack such as video surveillance from the parking lot or any documentation to refute the Jacks’ alibi.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Barr, during his closing argument, dismissed the defense case as an “interesting take on the facts.”

“She (the victim) pointed him out to us right here. She pointed right at him. He told her his name was Jack or Jackson and the defendant still confesses to the crime, where he gave details of the robbery that only the person who committed it would know,” Barr said.