Willis denied motion for new trial
Aug. 3—SUNBURY — A Northumberland County judge denied a new trial Monday for a Sunbury woman convicted of lying to police in the Arabella Parker murder case.
Christy Willis, 52, filed the appeal motion claiming The Daily Item publicized her case, which led the public to believe she was guilty.
Northumberland County Judge Hugh Jones denied her appeal through her attorney, public defender William Cannon.
Cannon introduced various news articles but Jones said no jurors were prejudiced at the time of jury selection.
According to the motion filing, Willis argued there were more than 12 articles written about her and some of them had information that was the product of police and prosecutorial officers, including information related to the brain surgeries received by the victim.
Willis was convicted by a jury in April of providing false and misleading statements to state police about Arabella's death.
Willis was sentenced to 20 months to 17 years in state prison.
The Daily Item reported the case through court documents and interviews with the family of 3-year-old Arabella, who state police said was beaten in October 2019 by Willis' son, Jahrid Burgess, 20, of Trevorton. The child's mother, Samantha Delcamp, 26, of Trevorton, was charged as an accomplice.
