The Ray Shetler trial is scheduled to get underway this morning at 9 o’clock in Westmoreland County Court. The trial is listed on today’s court schedule after Shetler insisted it be held in a contentious pretrial hearing before Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio on June 6th.
The 37-year-old Shetler is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and single counts of disarming a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. On December 7th last year, he brawled with four sheriff’s deputies and 11 state troopers after he was found hiding at his girlfriend’s mobile home outside of Seward. Shetler suffered eye and facial injuries when he was tasered in the face during the fight. A sheriff’s deputy was also seriously injured in the altercation was injured during the fight with police, suffering eye and facial injuries.
Police had been searching for him after he skipped a probation hearing related to his criminal case from 2015, when he shot to death St. Clair Township police officer Lloyd Reed Jr. Shetler was acquitted of murder charges in that case but convicted on charges related to his escape attempt.
Shetler’s girlfriend, Keeley Shay Morgan, is scheduled for Plea Court on July 6th for a charge of hindering apprehension. The mobile home’s owner, Kenneth Krouse, has a pretrial conference for the same offense scheduled for July 14th.
At the June 6th hearing, the possibility was raised that the trial could be moved to August because the court schedule in Westmoreland County is very heavy today. There are a dozen trials on the schedule, including three before Judge Bilik-DeFazio.
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