DONOVAN ACQUITTED

After nearly an hour-and-a-half of deliberations, a jury acquitted a 46 year old Coatesville man of one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance after a trial in front of Judge Howard F. Riley, Jr. The verdict came on the heels of conflicting testimony from two Coatesville Police narcotics officers, whose absences in court were conspicous. For what it's worth, the officers were reportedly given a "special assignment" and excused from court. Perhaps they were assigned to protect Coatesville City Council President Pasty Ray as she attended the opening of an envelope on Strode Avenue or something...

Prior to closing arguements, a technician from the State Police Regional Laboratory in Lima testified that the substance found in Donovan's truck tested positive for .02 grams of cocaine. The defense offered no testimony and presented no case.

In closing arguements, defense attorney Rosemarie Griesmer argued that Donovan was not in control of the cocaine and that his female passenger, who was never charged by police, had attempted to ditch the cocaine when the officers stopped the truck. She also pointed out that the testimony of the officers were inconsistent with the police report, pointing out that the report noted the defendant and his passenger made phone calls on the defendant's cell phone and that Donovan was permitted to use his cell phone to call his boss regarding the imponded truck. Yet, Griesmer noted, there was no mention of Donovan's alleged statement that the drugs were his in the report as the officer testified.

Assistant DA Michelle Frei argued that the cocaine was in Donovan's reach and in plain view of the officers when the truck was stopped. Frei also argued that the officers had no malicious intent and admitted that their work in this case was sloppy, but still argued a case for convicting Donovan based on constructive possession of the drugs.

In the end, the jury of 7 men and 5 women found Donovan not guilty. A verdict was announced shortly after 13:00, however before the verdict was read, a plea deal in an unrelated domestic violence case was addressed.

Theodore J. Burley, 50, of Coatesville, had two separate cases pending before Judge Riley relating to the same incident in Valley. On January 6 at around 18:45, Valley Township Police officers responded to the report of a physical domestic on the 400 block of Mount Pleasant Street. Upon arrival, the victim told police that Burley had appeared at her residence to visit his child. When she told the defendant that the child was sleeping, he struck her in the face and pushed her against a door, where she struck her head. Valley officers were assisted by two Coatesville officers, who attempted to place Burley under arrest. Burley, however, refused to comply and wrestled with one officer, requring the other Coatesville officer to use his tazer to subdue him. Burley also directed verbal threats at one of the Coatesville officers. Burley was to plead guilty to Terroristic Threats, Simple Assault, and Resisting Arrest. The plea, however, didn't come easy...

As Judge Riley was reviewing Burley's guilty plea collequea, Burley appeared to have second thoughts about proceeding. A jury pool was being set up in order to proceed with a jury trial had the plea fallen through for any reason. Burley raised concerns about having a fair trial, given the number of witnesses that were scheduled to testify against him. Burley also claimed that he did not agree with the facts presented by the Commonwealth in regard to the Simple Assault or Resisting Arrest charges. At that point, Judge Riley chose not to accept his plea and the jury pool was prepared to be brought upstairs to Courtroom 6. The court recessed for about 15 minutes before the defendant changed his mind and accepted the guilty plea.

In accordance with the agreement, he was sentenced to 14 days to 23 months at CCP, with credit for time served, thus granting immediate parole, and a total of 3 years probation consecutive to the jail term (CP-15-CR-0000309-2007 & CP-15-CR-0000310-2007).

More guilty plea recaps will be posted as time permits; I have a two week backlog of cases that I have yet to post, but I will get them up as quickly as possible...