SNOW HILL – The second of three men charged in the January 2007 murder of a local woman with ties to Ocean City pleaded guilty to a lesser manslaughter charge last Friday in Circuit Court and now awaits his fate pending the outcome of a pre-sentence investigation.
Shawn Anthony Treherne, 23, of Bowie, Md., pleaded guilty last week in Circuit Court to manslaughter for his part in the beating death of Judy Lynn Wojcik, who was 41 at the time of her death, in Pocomoke on Jan. 13, 2007. Treherne’s plea to manslaughter last week came after a co-defendant in the case, David Keyvonne Justice, 20, of Pocomoke, cut his own deal in the case by providing prosecutors with more information about Treherne’s role in the crime.
In exchange for information about Treherne, Justice will likely be offered his own plea arrangement to a lesser manslaughter charge in what appears to have become a two-for-one special from prosecutors in order to secure convictions for each of the defendants. The third defendant in the case, Kendall I. Northam, 20, of Pocomoke, pleaded guilty in late September to second-degree murder and first-degree assault for his role in the death of Wojcik and now faces 30 years for the former and 25 years for the latter pending the outcome of a pre-sentence investigation.
A Worcester County grand jury in February handed down indictments against Northam, Treherne and Justice, charging them with first-degree murder and other charges related to the beating death of Wojcik, whose body was found in a wooded area near New Bridge Rd. in Pocomoke.
Around 8:45 a.m. on Jan. 13, Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputies and detectives from the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) responded to New Bridge Rd. in Pocomoke for a reported homicide after fox trappers found Wojcik’s body in a wooded area. The state medical examiner determined Wojcik died of numerous injuries consistent with blunt force trauma to the head, neck, back and arms.
According to court records, a concerned witness told detectives he allegedly spoke to Northam shortly after the murder was reported to the police and that Northam said himself, Treherne and another man picked up Wojcik and drove her to a wooded area where she was to perform sex acts for money or drugs.
According to court documents, Northam allegedly told the witness a disagreement arose for some reason at which time they beat and kicked Wojcik and left her in the wooded area. Northam also allegedly told the witness the three men retrieved the money they had given the victim by going through her pockets.