Trial to begin in '99 kidnap-murder

PITTSBURGH - There have been nine lonely Christmases and nine missed birthdays since the families of Brian Muha and Aaron Land first entered a courtroom to face the man accused of kidnapping and killing the young men on a wooded hillside in Washington County.

This week, relatives and friends will gather for yet another confrontation with Terrell Yarbrough, who after years of delays is scheduled to stand trial a second time in a second state on charges that he killed the university students in 1999.

Yarbrough, 29, formerly of East Liberty, was convicted of 12 counts, including aggravated murder, and sentenced to die nine years ago in Ohio. A jury in Steubenville found he was the triggerman in the kidnap-slayings of Land, 20, of Philadelphia, and Muha, 18, of Westerville, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus.

Weeks earlier, another jury in Steubenville had convicted his codefendant, Nathan Herring, of Steubenville, of aggravated murder and other charges. Herring was sentenced to life in prison. The men also were convicted of carjacking a Squirrel Hill woman.

The case initially sparked a jurisdictional battle before prosecutors in Ohio and Pennsylvania concluded that the slayings and carjacking resulted from a series of crimes that began in Steubenville with the kidnappings of Muha and Land. Prosecutors opted to hold one trial for each defendant in Ohio rather than trials in both states, saying it would be more efficient and compassionate for the victims' families.

But the Ohio Supreme Court in 2004 overturned the convictions for murder and conspiracy after reviewing Yarbrough's case, as it does in all death-penalty proceedings. The court ruled that the case should have been tried in Pennsylvania, where the bodies of Muha and Land were found.

The Ohio Supreme Court upheld Yarbrough's convictions for kidnapping, robbery, and related offenses, for which he is serving a 59-year sentence in that state. Herring also will be retried in Washington County on charges of homicide and conspiracy after Yarbrough's trial.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Yarbrough again could face the death penalty.

He and Herring are accused of robbing and kidnapping Land and Muha, students at Franciscan University in Steubenville, after breaking into their off-campus apartment May 31, 1999. Land and Muha, who planned to attend summer classes, were forced into the Chevrolet SUV owned by Muha's mother.

Investigators maintain that the abductors drove the pair into Pennsylvania, then shot them on a hill off Route 22 in Robinson. Their bodies were found several days later under a thicket of wild roses near what is now the highway's intersection with the Findlay Connector.

The victims' families were shocked by the Ohio Supreme Court decision in 2004, and are frustrated at the justice system's failure to resolve the case quickly.

Since authorities moved Yarbrough to Pennsylvania for arraignment in 2006, his trial in Washington County Court has been postponed nine times. Most of the postponements were ordered after his lawyers sought investigators, experts, and a mental-health evaluation for him.

"It became a joke, because of it constantly, constantly being pushed back," said Muha's mother, Rachel, of Westerville, recalling the e-mails she repeatedly sent to inform relatives of trial delays. "I think it's ridiculous."

The court also had to rule on a series of pretrial skirmishes and issues pertaining to evidence and witnesses for the new trial. Three judges have been assigned to the case at various times.

"Once it came to Pennsylvania, there was a lot of pretrial litigation," said Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas, who will try the case.

Relatives of Muha and Land said they dreaded facing Yarbrough again despite the strategies they've developed over the years to manage their grief.

"The thought of sitting across from [him] is going to be very difficult for me," said Land's mother, Kathleen O'Hara, of Philadelphia. "He is still alive, and my son is buried in the ground."

During the penalty phase of Yarbrough's trial in Steubenville, witnesses and evidence pointed to a childhood spent shuttling among relatives, a drug-addicted mother, and a father who eventually died of AIDS.

At the time, Yarbrough's attorneys said he had never visited a dentist, and had been so neglected that they likened him to "a feral child" who was "like Romulus and Remus, raised by wolves." Witnesses in Herring's trial also testified of his apparent breakdown and drug use after a beloved older brother died.

Rachel Muha said that she doesn't believe the men's pasts are an excuse, but that their experiences might help as an explanation.

"That just haunted me," she said.

Yarbrough's attorneys said they would argue that he was not involved.

"I believe the evidence will show that Terrell Yarbrough didn't kill anybody," said his lawyer, Kenneth Haber, of Pittsburgh. He declined to elaborate other than to say he did not believe evidence showed his client was the triggerman, as the jury in Steubenville concluded.

Haber said he planned to introduce evidence, such as IQ tests, to prove that his client is on the borderline of mental retardation.

"Terrell has tested in the mentally retarded range since his grade-school years," Haber said.

Lucas said he planned to call about 30 witnesses, almost all of them Ohio law enforcement officers. The largest contingent, he said, will come from the Steubenville Police Department, which initially investigated the case.

Lucas said police had no trouble recollecting details of the crime.

"They went through two trials," he said. "They've already been down that road."