Scott Black

TIONESTA, Forest County — Scott A. Black of Butler will face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of his one-time fiancee and her boyfriend.

Forest County District Attorney Elizabeth Ziegler on Monday filed notice of aggravating circumstances, asking the court to treat the deaths as a capital case.

Black, 38, is accused of fatally stabbing Marcelle I. Edwards, 42, and Donald L. Shay, 43, of Leechburg, Armstrong County, on April 27 at Edwards’ mobile home near Tionesta.

State police allege the defendant showed up there and forced his way inside, stabbing Shay at least 20 times. Police said he stabbed Edwards once in the neck.

Investigators believe jealousy could be a motive in the slayings. Black and Edwards had a longtime relationship and at one time were engaged. The couple broke up in late December or January, authorities said.

Edwards and Shay began dating in February, friends said. Only days before the killings, Shay had moved in with Edwards at her home.

Black is charged with two counts each of homicide and aggravated assault, and burglary. He is being held in the Warren County Jail without bail.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania must cite at least one of 18 aggravating circumstances to pursue the death penalty in a homicide.

Ziegler, in court papers Monday, cited three — that Black killed more than one person, that he tortured both victims, and that he killed them during a felony.

“The felony was a burglary,” Ziegler told the Butler Eagle on Tuesday.

The aggravating circumstance of torture, Ziegler said, was applied to both victims. She said Shay was stabbed more than 20 times, mostly in the back.

In proving torture, under state law, the prosecution has to prove that a defendant “had specific intent to inflict a considerable amount of pain and suffering on a victim, which is unnecessarily heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity.”

While Edwards was stabbed only once, Ziegler said, she suffered what amounted to emotional torture from having to watch her boyfriend get repeatedly stabbed.

In a death-penalty case, the jury must weigh the aggravating circumstances against mitigating circumstances, such as the suspect’s age, his family background or his mental state.

Black’s attorney, public defender Todd Woodin, did not return telephone calls Monday or Tuesday.

Last week, he asked that his client undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he’s competent to stand trial.

Warren-Forest County President Judge Maureen Skerda on Friday granted the request that will determine Black’s competency and if he was legally insane at the time of the killings.

Meanwhile, Black’s formal court arraignment that was to be today was delayed until June 17 in light of the prosecution’s decision to seek the death penalty in the case.

Because Woodin is not death penalty qualified, Skerda must find the defendant a new attorney who is eligible to represent Black.

There are no attorneys in Forest or Warren counties eligible to provide death-penalty representation.

Ziegler said the last capital murder case in Forest County was in the early-1990s.