Two hearings, three no-show defendants, a pair of arraignments, and a 20 minute power outage marked a long day at this week's criminal day at 15-1-04. Of course, it would happen the day before the Memorial Day holiday, so go figure...
The day began almost routinely, as the first matter was a continuance of a simple assault case to next week's list, followed by two agreement related charge reduction hearings - a drug related case and a misdemeantor harassment case were withdrawn to summary charges after the defendants in those cases completed a court-ordered agreement. Then, the wheels of justice came of an unceremonious - and rather unplanned - halt...
At 09:35, the power went out in the District Court building - and pretty much the entire east end of West Chester and portions of West Goshen. The cause of the power failure was an accident at Market St and Westtown Road in West Goshen, when a vehicle ran into a utility pole, causing a transformer to fail, thus putting an entire neighborhood into darkness. After nearly 25 minutes, the power was restored to the neighborhood and to the courtroom and court resumed. During the blackout, a DUI defendant waived his preliminary hearing, and the waiver hearing was held at the window as opposed to the courtroom. It had to be very interesting to see defendants, lawyers, and at least half-a-dozen WCPD officers milling around in the lobby of the District Court wondering if their respective business would be conducted today.
As for the accident, it appeared that the driver of the vehicle was flown to a trauma center; as court was resuming, PennStar #2 was seen landing at the nearby Goodwill Fire Company station at Union & Bolmar. As of this posting, the driver's condition is unknown...
Meanwhile, back in court, one of defendant's in last summer's shooting at Barnard and Adams had his preliminary hearing. Willam Shockley, 18, of Coatesville, who was arraigned last week, appeared in court to answer to charges of Carrying a Firearm Without a Permit, Reckless Endangerment, and Possession of Marijuana. The Commonwealth's witness testified that he and about 20 other people were in the 300 block of East Barnard Street shortly after midnight on May 29, 2006. The witness testified that he and the other subjects got word that there would be a fight involving youths from West Chester and youths from Coatesville. During the incident, the witness testified that at least 1 gun shot was heard and that he saw Shockley fire his weapon after being fired upon first. When the shots rang out, the witness testified, the people who were expecting a fight fled the scene. It should be noted that the witness could be described as, shall we say, reluctant...
Det. Cpl. Scott Whiteside then took the stand. He testified that he interviewed the defendant shortly after being arrested following a high-speed pursuit between West Chester and Coatesville. Cpl. Whiteside stated that he found what was suspected to be a small amount of marijuana on the defendant's person after being taken into custody. He also alleged that the defendant had fired his weapon while in Coatesville and that there was no permit on file for the defendant to carry a firearm.
The matter was held for Common Pleas Court; Shockley remains free on 10 percent of $10,000 bail and remains on electronic home monitoring while out on bail. The defense had argued that Shockley should be permitted to attend his senior prom at Coatesville Area Senior High School, despite being on home monitoring. The court agreed, and Shockley is getting an opportunity that those who weren't able to attend their respective senior prom's (okay, me) never got to experience. Oh, to be 18 again and staring down more than just a weekend visit at CCP. (15-1-04, CR-0000147-07)
The next case was a waiver of a preliminary hearing involving a defendant who turned himself in last week. Stephen Gensel returned to Judge Knapp's court, only this time, it wasn't quite as voluntary. Unlike last week, when Gensel appeared voluntarily, today, he was led in front of the judge in handcuffs after he was held on a detainer for a parole violation. Gensel waived his preliminary hearing on drug possession charges and was commited back to Chester County Prison on the detainer. (15-1-04, CR-0000156-07)
Last June, Gensel pled guilty to two counts of Forgery following an incident in East Goshen and was on probation at the time of his arraignment last week. (15-2-05, CR-0000067-06; CP-15-CR-0001933-2006) Gensel was also scheduled to go to trial on drug possesion and retail theft charges following an incident in West Goshen late last year. (15-2-03, CR-0000004-07; CP-15-CR-0000923-2007)
After a continuance on an assault case, two defendants made appearances in front of Judge Knapp for their preliminary arraigments:
In the first arraignment, Jason Paul Hayes, 26, of Morgantown, Berks County, was arraigned on 2 counts of Simple Assault and one count of Harrassment in a case filed by P/O Michael Cotter (who fire buffs will recognize as Assistant Chief of the Goodwill Fire Company) in an incident early this morning. Hayes is free after posting 10 percent of $1,500 and is scheduled to appear before Senior Judge Welsh on Thursday for a preliminary hearing. (15-2-03, CR-0000178-07)
In the second arraignment, a 42-year-old Downingtown woman was charged with Burglary, Criminal Tresspass, 2 counts of Simple Assault, two counts of Disorderly Conduct, and one count of Criminal Mischief in connection with an incident early this morning in Downingtown. Heather H. Brown is alleged to have broken into her ex-boyfriend's house in the Norwood House section of Downingtown and fighting with the victim. According to radio transmissions relating to the incident, Police Radio advised that Brown had broken into the property and that she was being restrained by at least one of the occupants of the house. She was released after posting 10 percent of $2,500 bail and is scheduled to appear in front of Judge Arnold next Monday in Downingtown District Court. (15-2-06, CR-0000222-07)
Once those two matters were addressed, two suspects charged with breaking into a vehicle and leading WCPD on a pursuit last week took different approaches to their respective preliminary hearings.
Jose Sanchez-Garcia, 28, of West Grove, waived his preliminary hearing for his part in the theft and pursuit on May 16. He faces charges of Theft by Unlawful Taking, Conspiracy to Commit Theft by Unlawful Taking, Recieving Stolen Property, Theft from a Motor Vehicle, Conspiracy to Commit Theft From a Motor Vehicle, Reckless Endangerment, Fleeing or Attempting to Elude an Officer, Driving Without a License, Driving at a Safe Speed, Careless Driving, 2 counts of Failure to Stop at a Red Signal, and Tresspass by Motor Vehicle. Charges of Reckless Driving and Stop Sign violations were withdrawn. He remains free on $7,500 bail. (15-1-01, CR-0000163-07) His co-defendant, however, went forth with his preliminary hearing...
During his preliminary hearing, Jose Gonzalez Vega, 22, of Avondale, stood accused of breaking into a vehicle that was parked behind a property on the 200 block of East Market Street. The victim testified that he had parked his car the previous night, only to find that the windows had been smashed out, all four of his tires were flattened, and several items were missing. A CD reciever valued at $300, a pair of amplifiers valued at nearly $900, and a pair of speakers were missing from his vehicle. He did not, however, witness the actual incident.
Following the victim's testimony, P/O Harry O'Neill testified that he had cleared from a domestic related incident in the East End at around 23:56 on the night of May 15. While on patrol on the 100 block of Cedar Alley, he had obsvered 3 subjects running down the 200 block of Cedar Alley towards Railroad Alley. P/O O'Neill identified Gonzalez-Vega as the subject who was about 20 yards behind the other two suspects and carrying a large white item. The three subjects then allegedly got into a green SUV which then began to go southbound on Railroad Alley. P/O O'Neill testified that he had to swerve out of the way to avoid being struck by the fleeing SUV.
At that point, the SUV then made a u-turn before going eastbound on Market St. P/O Rey Melendez and P/O Jason Malicki then entered attempted to stop the vehicle before taking off on the officers. The SUV then continued out of the borough on Market Street before turning onto Westtown Road, jumping the median, heading north on Garfield Avenue, then east on Lincoln Avenue before stopping and coming to rest against a large trailer at Lasko Industries on the 800 block of Lincoln in West Goshen. The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Sanchez Garcia, was found hiding in a stairwell in a nearby building and taken into custody. Gonzalez Vega and a 3rd actor, who has yet to be charged, then allegedly fled into nearby woods. Officers from West Goshen and Westtown-East Goshen Police, along with a K-9 unit from West Whiteland, searched for Gonzaez-Vega and the 3rd suspect before finally locating the defendant about 30 yards into the woods, laying in some brush.
P/O O'Neill then testified that he was able to apply a monetary value on one of the items after doing some research on the internet. He also testified that a large blue vinyl CD carrying case containing between 40-50 compact discs was also recovered from the green SUV.
Gonzalez-Vega was held on all counts pending, including Theft by Unlawful Taking, Conspiracy to Commit Theft by Unlawful Taking, Recieving Stolen Property, Theft From a Motor Vehicle, and Conspiracy to Commit Theft From a Motor Vehicle. A count of Criminal Mischief was also added. Gonzalez-Vega is now free after posting $5,000 bail. (15-1-04, CR-0000162-07)
In the final hearing of the day, Leobarda Estrada, 47, of West Chester, had been charged with Indecent Assault, Public Drunkeness, Harassment, and Disorderly Conduct after a May 12 incident on the 100 block of East Gay Street. In an agreement with the District Attorney's office, Estrada saw the Indecent Assault and Harassment charges withdrawn and pled guilty to one count of Harassment and one count of Disorderly Conduct. He was sentenced to time served in Chester County Prison (where he is being held pending the outcome of an INS detainer) in lieu of $731.00 in fines and court costs. (15-1-04, CR-0000158-07)
Before the session ended, the District Attorney's office requested and recieved 3 bench warrants to be issued against defendants who failed to appear for their preliminary hearings:
Peter Arrington Hyatt, 25, of Chadds Ford, was scheduled for an arraignment and preliminary hearing on charges of DUI and Causing an Accident Resulting in Damage to an Unattended Vehicle or Property following an accident on March 23 in a case filed by P/O Stuart Smith. Hyatt had failed to respond when his case was called and, in the Commonwealth's opinion, was given sufficient time to respond to be arraigned. Having failed to appear or respond, Judge Knapp issued a warrant for Hyatt's arrest. (15-1-04, CR-0000109-07)
Jason Robert Buddenhagen, 23, of West Chester, was scheduled to appear for an arraignment and preliminary hearing on DUI and Illegal Turn charges following a traffic stop initiated by P/O Thomas Flick on March 28. Buddenhagen had failed to respond when his case was called and had no attorney represented to argue on his behalf when the case was called. Judge Knapp then issued a warrant for Buddenhagen's arrest after he failed to respond or appear for his hearing. (15-1-04, CR-0000116-07)
Michael Fairell, 24, of Philadelphia, was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on a single charge of Carrying a Firearm Without a License relating to an incident that occured on April 8 and was filed by P/O A. J. McCarthy. Fairell had been free after posting $10,000 bail on April 21. After failing to appear when his case was called or repsonding after sufficient time, Judge Knapp issued a bench warrant for his arrest, thus revoking his bail. (15-1-04, CR-0000122-07).
To recap, of the 18 cases listed on today's docket, 2 cases were held for trial following preliminary hearings, 3 defendants waived their preliminary hearings and had their cases moved to Common Pleas Court, 7 cases were continued to later dates, 3 cases were withdrawn in lieu of guilty pleas to summary charges, and 3 bench warrants were issued. And, the court lost all electricity for nearly 20 minutes.
Tentatively, next week's docket is expected to have nearly 2 dozen cases, but as can often be the case, some cases can be continued prior to the listing on Friday morning, plus new cases can be scheduled in for first listings prior to Friday.
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