Pair charged in 2017 Pa. slaying could face trial in January

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — It likely will pass the two-year mark since the killing of a Fayetteville, Pa., woman before the defendants in the case go on trial.

Nicholas V. Shinn, 23, and Tosha M. Daley, 28, who lived in Greencastle, Pa., when Daley’s stepmother, Jamie Ruth Daley, was stabbed and beaten in December 2017, appeared Monday in the Franklin County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas for a pre-trial status conference before Judge Angela R. Krom.

Shinn and Tosha Daley are charged with first-degree murder and have been held in the Franklin County Jail without bail since being taken into custody later on the day of the homicide.

Krom didn’t set a trial date during the hearing Monday, but indicated she would grant the prosecution’s request to schedule the proceeding in January.

Shinn is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, theft and conspiracy to commit theft.

Tosha Daley is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree murder with accomplice liability, solicitation of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

She also is charged with burglary with accomplice liability, conspiracy to commit burglary, robbery with accomplice liability, conspiracy to commit robbery, theft, conspiracy to commit theft and solicitation to commit theft.

Monday’s hearing was a followup to a March session in which Shinn’s attorney indicated that his client might be mentally ill.

Defense attorney David Erhard told Krom about findings from a doctor as he considered a mental-health or infirmity defense. Krom gave District Attorney Matt Fogal time to have an expert review Shinn’s mental health for the prosecution.

During Monday’s hearing, Fogal said the prosecution’s expert was reviewing the case, and he expected a report by mid-July, but he said there is disagreement over whether the expert is allowed to examine Shinn without his defense counsel being present.

Krom will consider motions on the issue.

Shinn and Tosha Daley were in a relationship when the Dec. 7, 2017, slaying occurred, court records said.

Jamie Daley was found hunched over, unresponsive and covered in blood in the front yard of her home in Greene Township, Pa., records said.

Shinn told investigators that Tosha Daley offered him $30,000 to kill her stepmother, court records said.

Tosha Daley claimed the two hatched a plan to steal money from Jamie Daley, records said.