Pennsylvania authorities filed charges last week against a Uniontown man who allegedly paid a then-14-year-old boy in money and drugs to kill another man last year.
The teen, Antonyo Owens, was arrested a few days after the June 6, 2023, murder of Anthony Jones, KDKA reported. But Pennsylvania State Police worked the case for the next year and eventually identified Calvin Jay Huffman, 38, as the man who hired Owens.
“This is a crime that had a profound impact on the community last year when this occurred, the effects of which are still felt to this day,” Fayette County District Attorney Michael Aubele said. “That afternoon, an already disadvantaged community witnessed an execution in broad daylight carried out by a teenager. It is sobering to think that this crime was even more disturbing than we originally believed at the time.”
According to the Observer-Reporter, Huffman paid Owens $5,000 and three large bags of marijuana. Owens has been charged as an adult with criminal homicide.
Aubele told the news paper that Huffman has a two-decade long criminal record, including a 2011 case in which he was convicted of shooting a woman outside a bar. He was also charged in April with kidnapping a man and assaulting others. He remains in jail in Bedford County on kidnapping, assault, and robbery charges.
Huffman has been charged with solicitation to commit murder, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, corruption of a minor, and hindering apprehension in the Jones murder, KDKA said.
Aubele said his office intends to seek the death penalty.
