Teen Admits Robbery Youth Will Testify Against Friends Charged In Killing

Joshua Scott pleaded guilty to robbery Friday and admitted driving two friends from a home where a 70-year-old man was found stabbed to death last fall.

A plea agreement Scott struck with prosecutors requires that he testify against two friends charged with first-degree murder in Patrick Victorino’s death. Prosecutors have agreed not to charge the 16-year-old Post Falls youth with murder unless new evidence is uncovered.

Prosecutors alleged that Scott committed robbery by “aiding and abetting” two 17-year-olds he drove to Victorino’s house.

First District Judge James Michaud has not set a date to sentence Scott, who asked through his attorney that it be done soon. The teen’s lawyers plan to ask that Scott, who is charged as an adult, be given a sentence that follows juvenile court guidelines, defense attorney Ian Smith said.

The plea agreement does not limit the severity of sentence prosecutors may recommend. Robbery is punishable by up to life in prison.

Scott told Michaud he drove David Woffenden and Timothy Bailey to Victorino’s house on Nov. 16 “to rob for money, sir.” He said he parked his car at the end of an alley that runs behind Victorino’s home near First Street and Harrison Avenue and waited while Woffenden and Bailey went inside.

The teens returned “three to five minutes” later and rode away in Scott’s car, he said.

A neighbor has testified during preliminary hearings for two of the teens that she saw Woffenden and Bailey leave Victorino’s house and run to Scott’s car. The 24-year-old woman followed the teens for several blocks, took down a license plate number and the car’s description. She then returned to Victorino’s house and found him lying on his side in a bedroom doorway inside his home.

An autopsy determined Victorino had been stabbed 21 times, prosecutors have said.

Woffenden and Bailey are charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery. Both confessed their parts in Victorino’s murder to police, prosecutors said.

Bailey pleaded not guilty Friday morning to both charges. He could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Woffenden and Bailey have been held in jail without bail since their November arrests. Scott’s bail is set at $300,000.

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