A day after a jury acquitted a man charged in the first case generated by a grand jury seated in the county in decades, the Westmoreland district attorney said she still backs the process that led to the failed prosecution.
“I absolutely remain confident in future grand jury proceedings; that’s why this case was brought in front of a grand jury, it was a difficult and challenging case to prosecute. It doesn’t diminish our faith in the judicial system,” District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said. “I applaud our team of prosecutors and detectives and the efforts it took to investigate this case and bring it to trial.”
Following a four-day trial for one of the men accused of the Dec. 9, 2022, fatal shooting of James Michael Hayes, 31, a 12-member jury on Thursday night found Larry Osborn Nix, 47, of West Brownsville, Washington County, not guilty. Jurors convicted Nix of one lesser count of reckless endangerment in the New Kensington incident…