MORGANTOWN — The woman accused of committing Monongalia County’s only murder in 2018, a man accused of robbing three businesses and a woman police said killed her passenger while driving drunk were among those arraigned in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
The group was the first of three to appear for arraignment following the January 2019 term of the Monongalia County grand jury, which returned 132 indictments Jan. 14.
Thirty-two people were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
Warrants for the arrest of Terry Moore, Adam White, Kenneth Healey and Howard Chase were issued after they failed to appear.
Leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, Elizabeth Chinn, 32, of South Point, Ohio, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, burglary, two counts conspiracy and grand larceny.
Chinn said she couldn’t tell Judge Phillip Gaujot her age and seemed unaware of what an indictment was until her attorney, Kevin Tipton, showed her a copy.
Tipton said Chinn has been in and out of mental facilities her whole life, and he would be filing a motion to have her competency to stand trial evaluated.
Chinn was indicted for shooting and killing Timothy Pahl, 67, during a burglary at his home on Old Stewartstown Road on April 22, 2018. She was arrested at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Plains Township, Pa., by the Pennsylvania State Police.
Chinn was booked into North Central Regional Jail on Oct. 26 and is being held there without bond.
Thomas Allen Hollis, 53, of Morgantown, pleaded not guilty to three counts of second-degree robbery.
He is accused of robbing Books-A-Million, in Pierpont Centre, on Oct. 18, 2018; Hornbeck Road Gamestop on Oct. 20, 2018; and Smoker Friendly, in Pierpont Centre, on Dec. 17, 2018.
Hollis allegedly presented a gun in all three robberies.
Gaujot reduced Hollis’ bond from $50,000 to $10,000 — a compromise between the personal recognizance requested by his attorney, Bill Pennington, and the state’s request by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Chad Noel to keep bond the same.
Stacey Lynn Green, 47, of Waynesburg, Pa., pleaded not guilty to DUI causing death and driving while license suspended or revoked for DUI.
She is accused of driving her white Jeep Grand Cherokee into a utility pole on Blue Horizon Drive, near the Pennsylvania state line, on April 26, 2018, after losing control of the vehicle. Police said Green’s passenger in her vehicle, Charles Robert Reid, was killed as a result of injuries sustained during the crash.
