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ERIE -- The defense tookcenter stage in the murder trialof Corry bookstore owner David Copenhefer today, as the suspect’s wife, Patricia, took the stand.She described the Copenhe-fers’ attitude toward the victim and her husband and also outlined her husband’s activities on the weekend the victim disappeared.Her appearance kicked off the defense portion of the trial, and came after some dramatic testimony Thursday in the closing day of the prosecution’s case.David Copenhefer faces kidnapping and murder charges stemming from the slaying of Sally Weiner of Corry last June.Mrs. Copenhefer detailed the history of her relationship with her husband, their contacts with the victim, and of herhusband’s activities on the day in which Mrs. Weiner was abducted.The witness testified that she and her husband have been married for 19 years, having met when both worked at a bar, he as a bouncer and she as a barmaid/waitress. She told of living in Denver, Colo., for two years, while her husband attended gunsmith’s school, and of subsequent stops in Troy, Ohio, and Greenfield, Ohio.It was in Greenfield that the Copenhefers met the Rev. John Robison, current pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Corry. Rev. Robison was theCopenhefer’s pastor during his tenure in Greenfield. When he accepted the pastorate in Corry, the Copenhefers visited him on a number of occasions.According to Mrs. Copenhefer, a corporate takeover affected her husband’s job in Greenfield, and the couple decided to look elsewhere. They ultimately settled in Corry.Noting that her husband loves to read, Mrs. Copenhefer said the couple realized that Corry had no bookstore, and decided to act to fill that void by opening a store of their own.A loan was secured from Marine Bank, and the couple started their own business, she testified.Defense counsel Dave Ridge asked the witness about the bank loan, and questioned whether the Copenhefers had an account with Pennbank. She answered that they had a personal account with Pennbank.While the Copenhefers were in Corry, their home in Greenfield burned. The cause was determined to be electrical innature, she told the court.It was an insurance check for the loss of their Greenfield home that caused a harsh encounter between the Copenhefers and Pennbank officials.Mrs. Copenhefer said the check arrived in the mail, and her husband had planned to take it to the bank. She told the jury that she found the check laying on a counter, and assuming that her husband had forgotten it, she took it to Pennbank to cash it.“I was treated like I was doing something wrong,” she testified. “They were questioning my integrity, and I didn’t like that one bit.”Mrs. Copenhefer admitted that she was “hot” after her encounter with bank officials, and said her husband attempted to calm her when she arrived home.Subsequent testimony focused on the couple’s relationship with the Weiners. PatriciaCopenhefer told the court thatIrish lads, lassiesFirst graders at St. Patrick’s School were in full regalia for an Irish program presented at9:30 a.m. today in Dion Auditorium. They performed song and dance routines before family and friends and the student body, pre-school through eighth grade. Erin Marshall, Mark Lucia, Jon Turner and Sarah Benvenuti, from left, rehearse an Irishjig, ’’The Shoemaker's Dance.” They also entertainedwith the play, Magic Shoes,” the Irish tune, ‘‘McNamara’s Band,” complete with band director, and danced to the tunes ‘‘With a Shillelagh Under My Arm” and ‘‘St. Patrick’s Day Parade.” The presentation was under the direction of Kathy Reed, first grade teacher, and Cathy Gabrys, dance instructor. (Photo by Mary Jane Leicht)they had met at church, and also attended some of the same civic functions from time to time.She described their relationship as “very superficial. We didn’t really care for them. We just said ‘hi’ at church and ‘how are you,’ but you didn’t really want to know.”Her testimony this morning also touched on her husband’s care of the guns in their home, and of her familiarity with them. She described her husband as being an “extra cautious individual,” and said he taught her and their son, Paul, how to properly handle firearms.She testified that on June 17, the day that Sally Weiner was abducted, she went to work in the morning and her husband remained at home, as was their custom. She said she talked to him by phone three or fourtimes that morning, and that he was playing with their son.Her husband told her he had to travel to Corry that day concerning a business deal. She next saw him that evening around 5 or 6 o’clock when he came to the store. She described his demeanor as normal.She told of hearing that evening that there had been a kidnapping, and said she was “shocked and upset” to learn on Saturday that it had been Sally Weiner. She added that her husband had also appeared shocked when he heard thenews.That evening, as they prepared for bed, the doorbell rang and “15 or 20 men came through our house, tearing apart everything.”(Please turn to PROSECUTION, Page 2)Blast blamedoncVerses9JAL EL-DEEB, Lebanon (AP) — A car bomb exploded during the morning rush hour today about 50 yards from the British Embassy in Christian east Beirut, and police reported that 12 people were killed and 75 wounded.A radio station said the embassy may have been the intended target of the attack and that officials there had received threats from people offended by Salman Rushdie’s book, “The Satanic Verses.”The blast came during a lull in several days of fierce fighting between Christian and Moslem forces. No group claimed responsibility for the bomb.The car, packed with an estimated 110 pounds of TNT, blew up outside the Abu Habib bakery on the coastal highway in suburban Jal el-Deeb at 10:45 a.m., a police spokesman said.The blast wrecked the one-story bakery. The blood-stained wreckage was strewn with pieces of human flesh, said the spokesman, who cannot be named under standing regulations.He said a travel agency on the ground floor of the six-story building that houses the British Embassy was completely wrecked. But the only damage to the third-floor embassy was broken windows. The spokesman said 12 people were killed and 75 wounded in the attack.Gunmen of the Lebanese Forces, the Christians’ main militia, fired automatic weapons in the air to clear a path for ambulances and fire engines through the devastated street.Nervous Lebanese guards of the embassy crouched at corners around the building, fired machine gun volleys into the air, and prevented reporters from entering the building.
Newspaper Details
Franklin News Herald
Franklin, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Mar 17, 1989
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Oil R.
PA, USA 20 Aug 2018
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