Appeals court upholds conviction of former state trooper from Plum

A former Pennsylvania State Police trooper’s appeal of his conviction for assaulting and threatening his wife was denied Thursday.

A three-judge panel of the state’s Superior Court upheld the guilty verdicts issued by an Allegheny County judge against Scott Richard Mang, 34, on charges of simple assault and making terroristic threats following a domestic dispute with his wife at their Plum home on Jan. 21, 2019.

According to court records, the Mangs watched football and drank alcohol throughout the night then argued about time he had spent in the couple’s bathroom. Police said Mang punched a door, pulled his wife’s loaded pistol from a bedside bureau and threatened to shoot her and himself before she fled the home.

Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Colville dismissed a count of aggravated assault filed against Mang and, following a nonjury trial last October, found him guilty of the two misdemeanor offenses.

Mang was sentenced to serve 18 months on probation, was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and complete a Batterer’s Intervention Program.

Mang, in his appeal, contended the evidence presented against him at the trial was not sufficient to support the convictions. He claimed he had no intent to scare or harm his wife but that his actions were a spur-of-the moment threat caused by “transitory anger.”

Senior Superior Court Judge John Musmanno, in an opinion issued Thursday, rejected that claim.

“Because the circumstances support the finding that Mang had intended to terrorize his wife, during a long fight, by picking up her loaded firearm and stating that he would kill them both, we cannot grant Mang relief on this claim,” Musmanno wrote.

Defense Attorney Robert Mielnicki could not be reached for comment.

Ryan Tarkowski, spokesman for the state police in Harrisburg, said Mang was hired as an officer in 2011 and was suspended without pay following his arrest. Mang no longer works for the state police, Tarkowski said.