SNOW HILL — The fate of a Texas man sentenced in 2011 to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder remains in the balance this week after the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to reverse the state’s highest court’s ruling on an appeal.
Justin Hadel, now 23, of College Station, Texas, was found guilty in June 2011 of first-degree murder in the beating death of Christine Sheddy, a 26-year-old Delaware woman reported missing in November 2007 from a farm near Pocomoke where she had been staying with friends. After a massive two-year search, Sheddy’s remains were found buried under a bed-and-breakfast in Snow Hill.
Hadel was later convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Sheddy, who was struck at least four times in the head with a shovel at the Pocomoke farm, and was sentenced to life in prison. However, Hadel later filed an appeal in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals seeking to overturn the conviction on the grounds he was allegedly not afforded the opportunity to change his defense attorney just four days before his trial.
The Court of Special Appeals upheld the conviction and denied Hadel the opportunity for a new trial. However, Hadel filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Maryland Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn the lower court’s ruling. In May, the state’s highest court reversed the Court of Special Appeals opinion and remanded the case back to Worcester County Circuit Court for a new trial.
This week, however, the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office filed its own petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Court of Appeals to consider reversing its May decision on Hadel’s right to a new trial. The high court has not yet made a decision on the Worcester State’s Attorney’s petition and will likely take up the issue during its September term.
Sheddy had moved to the Byrd Rd. residence in Pocomoke about two months before her untimely demise and shared the home with another couple, Clarence “Junior” Jackson and Tia Johnson, along with Johnson’s two young children and her cousin, Hadel. She was reported missing in November 2007, touching off a massive search in the area of the Byrd Rd. residence in Pocomoke where she had been living with her two young children.
After an extensive two-year search, Sheddy’s remains were discovered on the grounds of the River House Bed and Breakfast in Snow Hill where both Jackson and Johnson had worked prior to her disappearance. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled Sheddy had been killed by as many as four blows with a blunt object. It later came out during Hadel’s trial he had struck her with a shovel multiple times in the head.
After Hadel was identified as the suspect, he was arrested in Texas and extradited back to Worcester County to face first-degree murder charges. During his trial in June 2011, it came to light Hadel had confessed to Johnson about committing the murder and later admitted to the killing to his jail cellmate, Jonathan Handy. Both Handy and Johnson testified about the confessions during Hadel’s trial.
Also during Hadel’s trial, Johnson laid out the events leading up to Sheddy’s murder and the transportation of the body to the Snow Hill bed-and-breakfast. While Hadel was the prime suspect, both Jackson and Johnson were later tried and convicted for their roles in the murder and cover-up. Jackson was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with all but 30 years suspended. For her part in the crime, Jackson was convicted of accessory after the fact and burglary and was sentenced to a combined 15 years, of which about half was suspended.