The trial of a former New Florence man previously acquitted of killing a police officer and now accused of assaulting a Westmoreland County deputy sheriff has been delayed until at least June.

Ray Shetler Jr., 37, appeared in court this week for a procedural hearing to determine if his trial on charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest would begin later this month.

Shetler was charged in December following an altercation during which a sheriff’s deputy was injured as officers attempted to take him into custody at a Seward mobile home on an arrest warrant.

Officers said Shetler was found hiding beneath a folded futon covered with blankets. They say he fought back and headbutted a sheriff’s deputy who leaned over to take him into custody. The deputy suffered head and shoulder injuries that required hospital treatment, police said.

Shetler also was injured. He was shot in the eye with a Taser and sustained facial injuries. He appeared in court Tuesday wearing eyeglasses.

Assistant Public Defender Michael Garofalo said he is waiting to review case records and needed more time to prepare for Shetler’s upcoming trial.

“We only started down this road and I need to review everything the commonwealth has,” Garofalo said, noting he has yet to determine if the allegations against Shetler should be challenged before the trial.

Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio granted the trial delay and said it will be tentatively scheduled to begin in June.

Following a six-day trial in 2018, a jusry found Shetler not guilty of the murder of New Florence police officer Lloyd Reed. Police said Reed, 54, of Hollsopple, Somerset County, was in uniform and responding to a domestic call when he was shot and killed by Shelter.

Witnesses said Reed came upon Shetler, who was holding a rifle, and demanded he drop the weapon. Shetler refused to comply, and Reed fired six times.

Shetler fired three rounds from the rifle, one of which struck Reed under his left arm and just beyond his bulletproof vest, according to witness testimony at trial.

The defense maintained Shetler did not know the armed man in his front yard was a police officer.

Witnesses said Shetler fled after the shooting, swam across the nearby Conemaugh River and dumped some clothing and the rifle in a ditch on a power plant’s property. He was arrested after a six-hour manhunt.

The jury found him guilty of two theft counts for stealing a vehicle during his getaway. He was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail and five years’ probation.

Officials late last year claimed Shetler violated terms of his parole and ordered his arrest after he failed to appear in court for a hearing.

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