Forbes gets 
six months 
for accessory 
in murder

The last of six Newton residents charged following the stabbing death of 19-year-old Jerry Alden Pittman II nearly two years ago has been sentenced for his involvement, which included driving one of the assailants to a hospital following the confrontation.

Judge Thomas W. Mott sentenced Chadwick Ramsey Forbes on Wednesday to six months in jail and to pay a $1,000 fine after the 21-year-old entered a voluntary plea of guilty to accessory to a felony, an aggravated misdemeanor, just over a week before he was scheduled to stand trial on the charge.

Three young men originally were charged with first-degree murder in connection with the case, and Forbes was one of three charged with accessory to a felony during the investigation following Pittman’s murder. The teen’s body was found by his father late morning on Oct. 6, 2007, in the near the back yard of the family’s residence at 714 W. Third St. S. in Newton. Pittman had been stabbed 29 times, including once in the heart, during an altercation with Tyler Ray Oberhart, Justin Alan Robuck and Ray Robert Travis after Oberhart became angry at Pittman for giving him grass clippings instead of marijuana in exchange for several Xanax pills.

Testimony in 2008 during Oberhart and Robuck’s first-degree murder trials, which were moved to Dallas County due to pre-trial publicity, indicated Oberhart, Robuck and Travis went to Pittman’s residence around 3:30 a.m. to talk to Pittman about cheating Oberhart in the drug exchange earlier that day. Oberhart’s then-girlfriend, Mishana Laura Cornejo, and Travis’ then-girlfriend, Courtney Patricia Hummel, waited for the boys in Hummel’s vehicle in an alley behind Pittman’s house. Both testified the boys returned a short time later and that Oberhart and Robuck had blood on their clothes.

Travis testified during both trials that Pittman hit Oberhart in the face with a piece of PVC pipe before Oberhart and Robuck attacked him. Travis also admitted to participating in the assault on Pittman by hitting him several times with his fist, which was wrapped with a hemp necklace, while Pittman was on the ground. After turning on his cell phone light to find a piece of a marble that had broken off the necklace, Travis then witnessed Oberhart’s switchblade in Pittman’s chest and Robuck stabbing Pittman repeatedly in the right hip area, according to Travis’ testimony in court.

The five teens left the scene following the attack and went to a friend’s apartment, where they talked to Forbes and persuaded him to drive Robuck to Des Moines to receive medical treatment for a stab wound Robuck sustained to his left hand, according to court records and testimony.

Oberhart, who was 17 at the time of Pittman’s death, was found guilty of first-degree murder in August of 2008 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Robuck, a former Newton resident who was 19 years old and living in Des Moines at the time of Pittman’s death, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced last November to a maximum of 50 years in prison.

Travis, who was also 19 when Pittman was killed, pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery — reduced from first-degree murder — and was sentenced to be incarcerated for a no more than 10 years. Cornejo and Hummel were charged with accessory to a felony and were sentenced to spend a year in the Jasper County Jail. Robuck must serve a minimum of 35 years before he is eligible for parole, and Travis’ tentative release date from the Iowa State Penitentiary is July 16, 2016. Both Oberhart and Robuck have appealed their cases.

Mandi Lamb can be contacted at 792-3121 ext. 424 or via e-mail at mlamb@newtondailynews.com.