Shetler's lawyer claims Westmoreland criminal trial system unconstitutional

Lawyers for a New Florence man accused of assaulting a police officer nearly two years ago argued during a hearing Wednesday that Westmoreland County’s criminal trial system is unconstitutional.

Assistant public defender Mike Garofalo said the assault and resisting arrest charges against Ray A. Shetler Jr. should be dismissed. The attorney argued that the county’s system, which limits trials for criminal defendants to just one five-day period every other month, results in violations of the state’s speedy trial law.

“The commonwealth has not exercised due diligence. There were vacant courtrooms so the burden is on the commonwealth. They could have acted,” Garofalo said. “There is case law: 365 (days) means 365.”

Pennsylvania’s speedy trial laws require prosecutors to bring cases to trial within six months for jailed defendants and within a year for those not in custody.

Shetler, 39, has been in jail awaiting trial since his arrest in December 2021 on charges that he attacked and injured one of several officers while they took him into custody on an alleged probation violation.

Authorities say Shetler fought with officers and headbutted a sheriff’s deputy after they found him hiding under blankets in a futon at a mobile home in New Florence. The deputy suffered head and shoulder injuries requiring hospital treatment, prosecutors said.

Shetler was subsequently charged with aggravated assault of a law enforcement official, disarming police and resisting arrest.

He previously was tried and found not guilty in a 2018 trial in the shooting death of St. Clair Township police officer Lloyd Reed.

Reed, who was in full uniform, was fatally shot by Shetler while responding to a domestic abuse call in New Florence. Shetler claimed he didn’t know Reed was a police officer.

In that case, Shetler was convicted of theft of a vehicle, which prosecutors said he stole during an attempted getaway after the shooting. He was serving a probation sentence for that arrest.

Prosecutors claimed Shetler violated the terms of his release when he tested positive for illegal drugs in August 2021 and failed to contact probation officers.

Now, after a series of delays, Shetler’s trial on the December 2021 assault charges is scheduled to begin Oct. 2.

But defense lawyers said that’s too late. They claim Shetler should have been tried months ago. They argue that ongoing delays related to courtroom unavailability should not be held against a criminal defendant.

Garofalo argued Westmoreland County’s criminal court scheduling system limits time frames and courtrooms availability for trials.

Criminal Court Administrator Pete Flanigan testified the system is based on splitting the 5,000 criminal court cases each year into north and south zones. Trials before the county’s four criminal court judges are conducted one week every other month for each zone. Trial lists for each month are based on the age of pending cases, Flanigan said.

Each judge controls their own trial schedule, meaning a case called before one judge is rarely transferred to another courtroom.

Shetler’s trial is scheduled to be presided over by Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio and is expected to take about five days.

His case was called for trial four times in the last 16 months, but other cases were scheduled to be heard by Bilik-DeFazio.

“It could never be called in any other courtroom under our system,” Flanigan testified.

The defense says other criminal courtrooms and judges were available to preside over Shetler’s case. An option to move Shetler’s case to another month — typically reserved for cases from the other region of the county — was not considered, according to the defense.

“Every time our case was continued (because of courtroom unavailability) it was a de facto two-month continuance,” Garofalo said.

Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro argued the scheduling issue is a court function and not one controlled by prosecutors. He also suggested that defense-prompted delays were responsible for multiple postponements of Shetler’s trial.

Ciaramitaro also claimed that it if it begins as scheduled next week, the case will meet the requirements of the state’s speedy trial law.

“I have reported the case ready for trial,” Ciaramitaro said.

Bilik-DeFazio requested court administrators to issue a report detailing past courtroom availability. The judge said she expects to rule on the defense request for dismissal this week.