PITTSBURGH (AP) - A western Pennsylvania man got married about an hour after a judge held a preliminary hearing on criminal allegations against him and ordered him to stand trial for the death of a man whose body was found in a river in another state.
Hubert Wingate, 30, of Pittsburgh was charged in Allegheny County with homicide, theft and abuse of a corpse in the disappearance and shooting death of Andre Gray, 34, of Lawrenceville.
Gray went missing in October. His body was found March 3 by a tugboat captain in the Ohio River near Follansbee, West Virginia, and investigators say he died of a gunshot wound.
Police say Wingate in advertently tipped off investigators when he logged into the PlayStation network using Gray’s account and his own email address.
At the Friday hearing, defense attorney Wendy Williams cited a lack of physical evidence and suggested that a man said to have helped dump the body in the river was responsible for the murder. A second man testified that Wingate and the other man shot and stabbed the corpse so that it would sink in the river, and Williams suggested that the two conspired to blame her client.
“There was no testimony presented as to when Mr. Gray died or who shot him,” Williams said.
Assistant District Attorney Kevin Chernosky said the state has plenty of circumstantial evidence to charge Wingate.
District Judge Anthony Saveikis ordered Wingate to stand trial on all charges except for an animal cruelty count.
Wearing his red jail jumpsuit, Wingate and his fiancee were married shortly afterward in a private ceremony performed by District Judge Robert Ravenstahl.
Williams said her client was on “an emotional roller coaster,” but marriage would provide him with some stability. Williams said it was an “unfortunate coincidence” that the wedding and preliminary hearing were on the same day.
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