The trial for Ray Shetler Jr. has been scheduled for next month in the courtroom of Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio.
Shetler, who is now listed as living in Bolivar, is charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault and felony disarming of a law enforcement officer, along with misdemeanor resisting arrest and disarming of a law enforcement officer. The case stems from a brawl at a St. Clair Township mobile home where he’d been hiding out but was discovered by police and sheriff’s deputies in December. He had skipped a probation hearing related to his 2018 conviction on charges related to his escape attempt after he fatally shot police officer Lloyd Reed Jr. Shetler had been acquitted of homicide in Reed’s death.
When he was located on December 7th, hiding at his girlfriend’s mobile home, four sheriff’s deputies and eleven state troopers attempted to take him into custody, but he fought with them before finally being subdued with the aid of a taser. A sheriff’s deputy was seriously injured as he fended off Shetler’s attempt to get his gun. Shetler also was injured and had surgery for a broken eye socket. He threatened to sue, saying at his preliminary hearing, “They beat my skull in.”
Judge Bilik-DeFazio last week scheduled the trial to begin April 18th.
Shetler is currently confined in the Westmoreland County Prison. His girlfriend, Keeley Shay Morgan, and the owner of the mobile home, Kenneth Krouse, are both scheduled for preliminary hearings on Friday for hindering apprehension.
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