The father, his son and their lawyers
The Montgomery County Public Defender's Office said it would be a possible conflict-of-interest the son and grandson of Plymouth Meeting murder victim Jack St. Onge. So the office will represent David St. Onge Sr., accused of killing his 88-year-old father, while a court-appointed attorney will handle the case of David St. Onge Jr.
David St. Onge Sr. and David St. Onge Jr. have gotten their legal representation straightened out after the Montgomery County Public Defender's Office said it could not represent the son and grandson of a Plymouth Meeting who was killed last month.
The body of Jack St. Onge, 88, was found wrapped in tarps on June 27 in a remote area of Susquehanna County, not far from the New York border. The coroner's office there ruled that he died from blunt head trauma.
Montgomery County detectives and Plymouth Township Police quickly honed in on St. Onge's son and grandson, who were living with the victim, as suspects.
St. Onge Sr., 59, soon told investigators that he had struck and killed his father after the older man threatened to throw him out of the house, the police affidavit of probable cause said. After killing his father, according to the document, St. Onge Sr. enlisted the help of his 20-year-old son to dump the body in Northeast Pennsylvania.
"We can't represent two people charged in the same incident," Assistant Public Defender Dean Beer said Wednesday. "It would be a potential conflict of interest."
So the office is representing the father, whose charges are more serious.No lawyer there had yet been assigned the case as of late Wednesday morning.
St. Onge Sr. is charged with third-degree murder and other offenses in the death of his father. His son faces misdemeanor charges, including abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. They are being held in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
Court records on Wednesday showed that St. Onge Jr. will be represented by a court-appointed attorney, William Read McElroy of Hatboro.