By David Lohr
October 29, 2007
CRAWFORD COUNTY, PA (Crime Library) — On Thursday afternoon, convicted wife murderer Edward Gingerich, 40, the first Amish man ever convicted of murder, and two of his brothers, entered their pleas in connection to charges they received for interfering with the custody of Gingerich's daughter.
Standing before Judge John Spataro in Crawford County Court, Edward Gingerich listened intently as Spataro explained the difference between a guilty plea and a no contest plea. Spataro said that by pleading guilty a person was admitting he did something wrong, whereas in a no contest plea, he would accept the charges as they were, without admitting to anything.
Gingerich acknowledged that he understood the difference and entered a "no-contest" plea to criminal conspiracy to commit concealment of the whereabouts of a child, a second-degree misdemeanor. In exchange for his plea, Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz dropped two felony charges against Gingerich; concealment of the whereabouts of a child and criminal conspiracy.
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| Atlee and Joseph Gingerich |
Afterwards, Gingerich's brothers, Atlee D. Gingerich, 44, and Joseph Gingerich, 43, stood before Spataro and entered "no contest" pleas to the same charge in order to avoid going to trial next month.
Thursday's court hearing stems from an incident that occurred on April 18, when Edward Gingerich's son, Daniel, took over the reins of a buggy in which his sister Mary was riding with their aunt, and navigated it to his Uncle Atlee's house. Once there, Edward Gingerich, his son, Eno, and his brothers, Joseph, 43, and Atlee, 44, locked Mary's aunt inside the barn and coerced Mary to go with them to an undisclosed location. The men allegedly told Mary that she had to cooperate or they would call the police, and she would be forced to go with them. She reluctantly agreed, perhaps more out of fear than from a sense of cooperation, and left with her father in a black sedan.
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