Just under a year ago, a block away from Monument Park in Lebanon, two men entered the home of Joseph Blanco (54) and then bludgeoned him to death, an accidental fatality in a targeted crime likely motivated by drugs and cash kept at the house by Blanco’s drug-dealing son, Cory Blanco (25), who had his own 5-year-old son in the house as well.
The trial for one of the men, Scott Kirchner II, began yesterday at the Municipal Building with jury selection under the judgeship of Samuel Kline. Jurors will report this morning by 8:15am so the court can resume affairs, according to information posted on the court’s public site.
Kirchner is facing 16 charges, the highest being criminal homicide, and all but four charges are first degree felonies.
As the Lebanon Daily News reported at the time, Blanco’s son Cory was charged too following the incident with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, endangering welfare of children, and corruption of minors as a result of the investigation. Cory is alleged to have been dealing methamphetamines and prescription pills including oxycodone.
The trial for Charles Holloway is scheduled to begin at the end of October, with Judge Kline presiding over that case as well.
