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N. Side man faces trial in grandmother's death
Wednesday, April 19, 2000 By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Nathan James testified yesterday that he called on his faith to combat his spiritually deranged nephew whose nearly 12-hour reign of terror against the North Side family ended with the fatal baseball-bat beating of James' mother who had been held hostage.
At a coroner's inquest yesterday, Deputy Coroner Timothy G. Uhrich ordered the nephew, Lorenzo Reddix, 21, to stand trial for homicide for the Feb. 18 beating of his grandmother, Evelyn James, 72. James died Feb. 29 in Allegheny General Hospital of head injuries.
James, of North Charles Street in Perry South, testified for about an hour yesterday, with an occasional, sorrowful glance at Reddix, seated at the table a few feet away.
James said that he lived with his mother, Evelyn James, and Reddix, whom she had raised since he was 12, until Feb. 17.
"My mother said that he had been acting crazy. He had been going up and down the steps with my dad's picture. Acting crazy and she wanted him out," James testified yesterday.
Reddix had been stalking around the three-story house, wielding a 2-foot tall crucifix and the photograph. Reddix claimed that he was rebuking Satan, James testified.
James' sister, Betty Cunningham, and her husband, Albert, both ministers, arrived and they all joined hands with Reddix and prayed for their nephew.
Reddix broke from the group, cursing at them, and he became more aggressive, threatening everyone in the house and attacking Nathan James.
"He said he was seeing things, the devil. He was circling the table saying things. I don't remember what, but it was frightening me and the kids," James testified.
Reddix accused his aunt and uncle of trying to poison him.
The Cunninghams had seen enough and left with the children, both around 5 years old, James said.
When James returned to the house, he said, Reddix began to attack him, charging at him, sometimes with a knife.
Reddix chased his uncle from room to room with the knife. James said that he found safety in the scripture. During a lull, police were called.
"I kept reciting Bible verses. And every time I said, '... in the name of Jesus,' he stopped in his tracks," James testified.
With officers at the door, James said, Reddix threw the knife at him. The blade whizzed over his head.
" 'I should have stabbed you in the head,' " James said Reddix told him.
Reddix was not arrested. He was taken by police to another aunt's house on McIntyre Avenue.
But at about 4 a.m., the terror would start anew. James' sister telephoned him because Reddix had acted out at her home. The sister also called police, who found Reddix outside James' home on Charles Street.
James said that just as he opened the door for police, he noticed Reddix leaning against a wall on the sidewalk, a knife in one hand, the large crucifix held against his chest with the other hand.
As James stepped onto the porch, Reddix ran toward him and one of the officers, Lt. Barbara Mihalow, fired a shot at the armed man.
"I stepped in front of the officer and said, 'Don't shoot him. That's my nephew.' Then I looked up at my nephew and he said, 'I rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus.' And he came down on me with the knife," James testified.
Reddix slashed James' arm and his ear. When James pushed him away, Reddix ran into the house, locking himself inside with his grandmother as hostage.
For the next three hours, police hostage negotiators tried to persuade Reddix to release his grandmother.
From time to time, Reddix would hold the crucifix out the window, yelling, "I rebuke you, Satan," said police Sgt. Benjamin Bogus, a hostage negotiator. "He said it like we were Satan."
Police eventually broke into the residence. Bogus continued his dialogue with Reddix, though Reddix's responses became increasingly sparse.
Occasionally, Bogus said that he yelled up the stairs to inquire about Evelyn James' well-being. Each time, she answered that she was OK.
"He said that he loved her. He said, 'I'll take care of Granny. I'll get her water. I'll get her medicine, whatever she needs,' " Bogus said.
At one point, for about 45 minutes, Officer Sheldon Williams and Reddix discussed the Bible. Williams asked Reddix to read a particular verse, John 3:16. He tried to persuade Reddix to come out and pray with him, Bogus testified.
Finally, Bogus testified, he heard Evelyn James say, "Don't hit me with that bat."
Then there was silence.
"I heard him say, 'I rebuke you! I rebuke you!' Then I heard him hit her with the bat," Bogus testified.
Officers from the special operations division then forced open the bedroom, but Reddix beat them back with the bat.
Bogus said that he heard what sounded like Reddix striking his grandmother more times with the bat.
Police again forced their way in. This time they struggled with Reddix until they subdued him, Bogus said.
Reddix was taken to Mayview State Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, his defense attorney, Christopher Patarini, said after yesterday's inquest. No diagnosis was available yesterday, he said.
Reddix is being held in the psychiatric ward at the Allegheny County Jail, Patarini said.
Reddix's mother, Anna James of Westgate Village, has said that Reddix had no previously diagnosed mental illness.
At the time of his arrest, Reddix was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint and resisting arrest. The homicide charge was added after his grandmother died.
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