SUNBURY - An evidentiary hearing for convicted murderer Elytte Barbour will be held at 1:15 p.m. Nov. 16 to determine if he inadvertently pleaded guilty after confessing to his role in the November 2013 killing of Port Trevorton resident Troy LaFerrara.
Northumberland County Judge Charles Saylor will preside at the hearing.
Barbour's attorney Richard Feudale, of Mount Carmel, claims his client's prior defense team - public defender John Broda, special conflicts counsel Susan Schwartz and attorney James Best - was ineffective for not seeking a guilty but mentally ill plea in his amended petition under the state's Post-Conviction Collateral Relief Act.
Feudale claims a breakdown in communication between Barbour and his previous legal counsel inadvertently led to his second-degree murder plea over a year ago in connection with the stabbing and strangulation death of the 42-year-old LaFerrara.
The 23-year-old Barbour and his 20-year-old wife, Miranda, were charged by Sunbury police with killing LaFerrara and stealing $150 from his wallet. Elytte Barbour claims his wife took the money.
Feudale said Barbour's plea was defective for multiple reasons, including his prior defense team's failure to pursue his wish of a temporary insanity plea.
Feudale claims Barbour had no intention to rob LaFerrara and that his plea was not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily entered. Feudale also claims Barbour was coerced or induced into pleading guilty to second-degree murder because he was threatened by his prior counsel that if he did not plea, he would face the death penalty at trial.
Barbour claims if he had been made aware of all the mitigating factors involved with seeking the death penalty, he would not have been afraid to face a death sentence at trial.
The petition said Barbour was not provided a June 23, 2014, psychiatric report and mitigation reports until he entered the plea Aug. 26, 2014.
Feudale said a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship during the time required for filing a direct appeal also occurred.
The Barbours, who were living in Selinsgrove at the time of the murder, struck second-degree murder pleas in September 2014. They are serving life sentences in state prison without the possibility of parole.