Self-defense or homicide? Man charged in deadly Philipsburg-area stabbing heading toward trial
Centre County prosecutors have enough evidence for a Philipsburg man to be tried for a stabbing that left one dead, a district judge ruled Wednesday.
Fernando Rosado-Guzman, 35, saw a criminal homicide charge move forward Wednesday after a more than hourlong preliminary hearing. He’s charged in the August killing of Brian C. Lyncha, a 41-year-old son and one of three brothers.
Centre County Assistant District Attorney Megan McGoron said Rosado-Guzman had a “specific intent to kill.” First Assistant Public Defender Lora Rupert said the case is a “pure issue of self-defense.”
Lyncha, of Philipsburg, died of a stab wound to the chest after a physical altercation with Rosado-Guzman in Rush Township.
John Bratton — a witness and friend of both men — and Rosado-Guzman gave state police at Rockview investigators differing accounts of what led to the stabbing.
Bratton testified he and Rosado-Guzman encountered Lyncha while walking on the railroad tracks that run parallel to North Front Street. A fight over a speaker ensued, Bratton testified.
Rosado-Guzman threw the first punch and dove on top of Lyncha, Bratton testified. The two then rolled down an embankment, where Lyncha straddled Rosado-Guzman and “took over,” he said.
Rosado-Guzman stabbed Lyncha and then told Bratton he “stabbed him a couple times,” police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
Rosado-Guzman told investigators Lyncha ran toward him, knocked him off his bike and punched him in the face. He stabbed Lyncha once, saying he “had no choice” but to stab him, police wrote. His mug shot showed him with a black eye.
A portion of Rosado-Guzman’s 911 call was played for the first time publicly during the hearing. He told a dispatcher that Lyncha was trying to “rob him.”
“I had to stab him,” Rosado-Guzman told a dispatcher. “... He beat my a--.”
Rosado-Guzman is also headed toward trial on one misdemeanor count of possessing instruments of crime after a ruling from District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker. He is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.