Published: January 06, 2009 08:55 am         

Plea deal reached in Elton killing

Defendant facing 15 to 30 years for third-degree murder

EBENSBURG — A Johnstown man who rejected a plea deal four months ago in the killing of an Elton man changed his mind Monday and pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in the slaying.

By entering the plea, Antonio Winkleman avoids the possibility of being convicted of first-degree murder at trial and a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The plea came just one day before a jury was to have been selected for the murder trial.

Winkleman, 26, was charged in the Dec. 9, 2007, shooting death of 51-year-old Scott Ickes at Ickes’ home in Elton. Winkleman had been staying there temporarily.

Authorities said that the shooting took place after Ickes had made repeated demands that day for cocaine from Winkleman.

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 15 to 30 years in state prison. The sentence is to be served consecutive to a six- to 13-year sentence Winkleman currently is serving in an unrelated 2006 case involving a handgun and drugs.

District Attorney Patrick Kiniry said that the plea deal means that Winkleman will spend 21 to 43 years behind bars.

“We’re satisfied with the results of the plea negotiations. We discussed it with the family, and they are in total agreement,” Kiniry said after the hearing.

Members of Ickes’ family declined to comment as they left the courtroom.

Prosecutors, in reaching plea agreements, “have to look at the realities of what can be proved in court,” he said. “Of course, there is no way we can replaced loved ones.”

Third-degree murder is an intentional killing done with malice, he said.

Although Winkleman, in pre-trial filings, had raised the issue of self-defense in the shooting, defense Attorney John Kasaback, “We felt it was in our best interest to take this plea.”

Asked about self-defense, Kasaback said, “When a defendant makes a statement (to the police), it sometimes makes that more difficult.”

Kasaback said that the sticking point in the plea talks had not been the issue of time in prison, but rather, the defense attorney said, about possible new charges.

He noted that the plea bargain rules out the possibility of any additional charges against Winkleman for matters raised in two recorded telephone calls that the defendant made from prison.

Although neither the defense nor the prosecution released details of those calls, Kasaback suggested they involved matters relating to individuals in the case.

Under the plea bargain, Winkleman also pleaded guilty to three charges in an unrelated case in which he was accused of fleeing the scene of an accident in 2007 in East Conemaugh.

He pleaded guilty to giving a false identity to the police, being involved in a hit-and-run accident and driving without a license.

Judge Norman Krumenacker said that he likely would give Winkleman a concurrent sentence in that case.

Krumenacker did not set a date for Winkleman’s sentence, but said it would be within 90 days.

Winkleman was returned to the county jail, where he has been held since his arrest Dec. 14, 2007, in Altoona. He had fled from Ickes’ home after the shooting.

     

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