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Man convicted of third-degree murder in stabbing death (Includes first-hand account)

After a two day trial, a jury of seven men and five women determined that David Umstead, 30 of Venango County, Pensylvania, was the aggressor when he chased down Delrio Ivy,58 of Pittsburgh, and repeatedly stabbed him while he sat on Ivy for 13 seconds.

Three days before the stabbing Umstead failed to return to a halfway house where was serving a sentence for his third DUI conviction, after he was allowed to leave the facility in order to look for work.

According to court documents and trial testimony, Umstead claimed he met Ivy at a local bar on the evening of August 29, 2014, and agreed to buy drugs from him.

Assistant District Attorney Chelsie Pratt reminded jurors during closing arguments that Umstead had escaped from the halfway house and that he had a drug problem.

“And where was he that night? He was in a bar trying to buy drugs.”

Umstead told police that he stabbed Ivy in self-defense after Ivy cut him with a knife and tried to rob him.

Public Defender Christopher Patarini played a portion of the tape from Umstead’s interview with police where he said, “We started walking down the road somewhere and he said, ‘I know you got more money on you than you had in the bar.’”

“After he swung, he started to come again. I took the knife I had in my waistband and just started swinging at him.” “I grabbed him with my right hand and swung the knife with my left,” Umstead was heard telling police on the recording.

Umstead claimed that Ivy cut his right arm during the altercation. However, Pratt told jurors that he waited a “week to 10 days,” to have the wound treated, after he had fled to Wyoming the morning after the murder.

Patarini argued, “We know Mr. Ivy had a knife because it was recovered at the scene.”

Two DNA experts testified that only Ivy’s DNA was found on the knife that Umstead claimed Ivy cut him with. However, no blood was found on the knife’s blade.

Arguing that Umstead’s version of events is a “self-serving story that the defendant had five weeks to concoct,” Pratt told jurors that Umstead lied in his statement to police claiming he ran away after stabbing Ivy once.

“’As soon as he went down and yelled I ran away’—that’s a lie—that’s not what the video shows,” she told jurors.

“The defendant spent 13 seconds on top of Mr. Ivy stabbing him at least five times with a knife that was at least four inches long,” Pratt argued. “Thirteen seconds that must have felt like an eternity to Delrio Ivy.”

Referring to the surveillance video that was previously shown to the jury, Pratt said, “The defendant chased down Mr. Ivy, you saw that with your own eyes.”

A pathologist testified that Ivy died from multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. Two toxicologists also testified that Ivy had cocaine, alcohol and a sedative in his system that night.

Umstead must have been in a situation that “he either had to kill or be killed,” in order to find he acted in self defense Pratt argued, while reminding them of the video she said, shows Umstead as the aggressor during the fight.

Judge Beth Lazzarra ordered a presentence report be prepared and set a November 24 sentencing date.

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