Jeremy Sickenberger

A state appeals court vacated the 18- to 40-year prison sentence a Portersville man who was convicted in the 2014 shooting death of a friend, and sent the case back to Butler County Common Pleas Court for a new trial.

Jeremy D. Sickenberger, 32, was released from the State Correctional Institution Pine Grove, Indiana County, on Friday, May 31, and placed on pretrial supervision after $100,000 bail was posted. He is scheduled to appear at a hearing Monday, June 10, before Judge Joseph Kubit.

A 2016 jury trial resulted in Sickenberger’s conviction of third-degree murder in the death of Thomas “T.J.” Stockman, who died after Sickenberger shot him in the side of the chest with a .22-caliber rifle in the living room of Sickenberger’s mobile home on Robbie Way on April 17, 2014.

State police said Sickenberger and the victim were “horsing around” while watching a movie that night. Sickenberger retrieved the rifle from his room, came back to the living room, put the barrel of the gun to the side of Stockman's chest and pulled the trigger.

Sickenberger claimed the shooting was accidental, that he did not know the gun was loaded and denied pulling the trigger.

His first attempt to have his sentence vacated and receive a new trial through a post-conviction relief hearing in February 2022 was denied by Judge Kelley Streib, who was assigned the case after trial Judge William Shaffer retired.

Defense attorney Marco Attisano appealed that decision to state Superior Court, which ruled in his favor in June 2023. The court accepted Attisano’s argument that Sickenberger’s trial attorney was ineffective because he failed to request a “mistake of fact” jury instruction based on Sickenberger’s contention that the gun was unloaded.

District Attorney Richard Goldinger said a three-judge panel issued the ruling, and his office filed an appeal to make its argument against the ruling before the full seven-judge panel, but it was denied. A subsequent appeal to state Supreme Court also was denied, he said.

“We’re disappointed in the Superior Court decision,” Goldinger said. “We’re weighing our options, but we will be prepare to retry the case if we need to.”

Superior Court granted the mistake of fact argument, but denied the defense’s argument that Sickenberger’s trial attorney failed to investigate and present evidence that Sickenberger has Autism Spectrum Disorder.

During the February 2022 post conviction relief hearing, Sickenberger attended remotely from the state prison but didn’t testify.

Attisano questioned at length trial attorney Joseph Smith, an assistant public defender, about how he defended Sickenberger.

Smith said Shaffer denied his attempts to prevent prosecutors from using as evidence the call Sickenberger made to 911 following the shooting and an interview he gave to a television news station.

He said he was concerned the TV interview made Sickenberger look “like he was more concerned about other things than the death of a friend.”

In the interview, Sickenberger also gave a slightly different version of the shooting than he gave police, Smith said.

He said Sickenberger wasn’t evaluated for autism because a mental health evaluation found he was competent to participate in a trial. He said Sickenberger’s mother reported he was autistic. Smith said he did not believe autism was an accepted legal defense in a homicide trial.

The mental health evaluation found Sickenberger had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he said.

Smith said a firearms expert testified the shooting was accidental, and he asked the jury to find Sickenberger guilty of involuntary manslaughter based on that testimony.

He said Sickenberger was adamant he didn’t pull the trigger, and the gun discharged due to an anomaly.

Smith said he and fellow assistant public defender Kimberly Hudak encouraged Sickenberger to accept an offer from prosecutors to serve a 10- to 20-year prison sentence if he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.