Erik Watkins is led to a police vehicle after his preliminary hearing on Feb. 25, 2021.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader
Erik Michael Watkins accused of killing his mother
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WILKES-BARRE — An attorney for homicide suspect Erik Michael Watkins has requested individual questioning of each juror to empanel a jury for trial.
Watkins, 40, was charged by state police at Wilkes-Barre with an open count of criminal homicide after he allegedly killed his mother, Patricia Watkins, 60, inside her Maffett Street, Sugar Notch, home on Dec. 13, 2020.
An autopsy revealed Patricia Watkins died from multiple traumatic injuries and suffered a number of broken bones in her face, neck and rib cage.
Investigators allege Watkins smoked marijuana and began beating his step-brother, Jeremy Brodbeck, inside the home.
After Brodbeck and Patricia Watkins barricaded themselves in a small bathroom, Brodbeck jumped out a window and ran for help. Patricia Watkins was found dead inside a tub, court records say.
Watkins, his attorney Mark Bufalino, Luzerne County First Assistant District Attorney Tony Ross and Assistant District Attorney Carl Frank were before President Judge Michael T. Vough for a status conference about the case Friday.
Bufalino said discovery, the exchange of evidence with prosecutors, has progressed accordingly. He advised Vough he has acquired several expert witnesses that need time to review documents, including a forensic pathologist.
Vough said he will schedule a motions hearing sometime in May on Bufalino’s pre-trial motion filed Dec. 20.
In the motion, Bufalino is requesting each juror be questioned individually instead of empanelling a jury in a group, prohibit prosecutors from using Watkins’ prior bad acts, and seeks to dismiss the case entirely.
Watkins’ trial has not been scheduled. He remains jailed at the county correctional facility without bail.
