Published: January 26, 2009 02:46 pm      

NEW – Johnstown man, 19, pleads to 3rd degree murder

EBENSBURG — Norris Collins of Johnstown, after once rejecting a plea bargain in a homicide case, ended up pleading guilty today to third-degree murder and to two unrelated drug delivery cases.

The 19-year-old defendant was sentenced immediately to 17 to 39 years in state prison by Judge Gerard Long.

The plea came as 100 prospective jurors were waiting for jury selection for separate trials in the two drug cases. The homicide case had been set for trial in April.

Collins was charged with shooting to death 27-year-old Cortez Jordan of Ferndale last April 27 outside the Solomon Homes in Johnstown. Collins fled the scene and was apprehended May 1 in Pittsburgh.

In the two drug-delivery cases, he was accused of selling crack cocaine to informants.