Owner faces homicide charge in shooting case at Somerset County farm

SOMERSET ― A homicide case against a Johnstown man will move forward in Somerset County Court.

The prosecution called three witnesses Friday at Gregory Mostoller's preliminary hearing for homicide in the shooting death of Clifton Earl Johnson in a barn in Shade Township near Hooversville.

The coroner, the pathologist and the lead state police criminal investigator in the case testified in the hearing that took place for two hours. More than a dozen of the victim's family members filled the back rows in the courtroom.

Mostoller's attorney, Thomas Dickey, of Altoona, peppered the witnesses with questions on cross-examination, with the end result: the district judge found there was enough evidence presented by Acting District Attorney Molly Metzgar and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Leiden through their witnesses for a prima facie case and moved it forward to trial in Somerset County Court.

At a preliminary hearing, a magistrate will not weigh the evidence and decide which evidence is credible; rather, a magistrate will look at whether the prosecution can establish two things: that a crime was committed; and that it is probable that the defendant may have committed that crime.

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None of the charges against Mostoller were dismissed or withdrawn by District Judge William Seger, of Windber, who presided over the hearing.

Mostoller called state police Somerset barracks on June 2 from the scene, a farm at 837 Charles Street in Shade Township, saying, "A guy came at me with a wrench, and I killed him," according to a probable-cause affidavit.

The 67-year-old man, from Johnstown, was waiting for police at the site of the shooting. He was charged at 11 p.m. before on-call Boswell District Judge Susan Mankamyer with homicide.

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Mostoller told police at the scene several times that he had killed a man who charged him with a wrench and that the gun was in the garage on the workbench, according to the affidavit. A .45 caliber pistol was found on the bench, state police said. The handgun contained one live round of ammunition that was chambered. The magazine was empty.

"The live round bore the same head stamp as the 12 spent shell casings near the victim," according to the affidavit.

A tape of Mostoller's call to the state police was aired by the prosecution during his preliminary hearing, where the defendant repeated that he knew the man who was shoot.

Johnson, 64, of Hooversville, was a well-known horse trainer and farmer in the area.

The barn was on a farm owned by Mostoller's deceased parents.

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Cullen Swank, county coroner, said when he got to the scene he saw Johnson on his back. Visible were bullet wounds in the man's arms and his head.

After the autopsy, Swank found the manner of death was multiple gunshots and the cause of death was homicide.

On June 2, "I was in Stoystown. I heard the fire whistle. About 11:30 a.m. I received a call from county. They were ready for me to come on the scene."

When he got there he saw about 10 troopers, he said. There were no medical personnel there.

"You don't know if the body was moved," asked Dickey.

"The body was never moved," Swank answered.

He was asked by the defense attorney about self-defense, and Swank responded, "homicide is the death at the hands of another."

When asked about the location of the body, he said, "It was kind of tangled in a barn door. The arm was tangled."

Dickey asked Swank if he made note of any weapons at the crime scene. Swank responded that there was a weapon found in a separate building.

When more questions about the weapon were asked, Swank replied, "My job is to find the cause and manner of death not to find weapons."

Courtney Healy, pathologist of DX in Windber, who performed the autopsy, said there were eight gunshot wounds, of which, three would have caused death and another would in his spine have debilitated Johnson so he could not walk run or stand.

There was a gunshot wound in each of Johnson's arms. One through his eye and the remainder in his trunk.

A toxicology report "was unremarkable."

Daniel Kephart, criminal investigator with the state police said he, another trooper and their sergeant, were in the barracks when the call came through from Mostoller. The three law enforcement officers rushed to the scene.

Once there, they got out of their vehicles and began walking down to the barn and encountered Mostoller walking toward them.

He walked toward them and they handcuffed him. He stayed with Mostoller "a good bit until after more troopers came on the scene."

Medical personnel were there but were told not to go down since Johnson was "obviously deceased."

Mostoller "admitted to the killing."

When asked by Dickey if there were any tools close to the victim, he responded: "There was a silver wrench about 5 or 6 feet from the body."