There are several motions hearings being held today in Indiana County Court, including one for James Brown, the Rossiter man charged with homicide by vehicle and other offenses in the death of a woman who was working at a gas station in Home last July when a car crashed into the building and burst into flames.
Brown is accused of being at the wheel of the car, which plowed over a gas pump at Pikels Top Fuels. 33-year-old Melissa Myers of Commodore was trapped inside the building when it caught fire. She died at the scene.
Brown has an attorney but has opted to coordinate his defense in an unusual way, by notifying the court of his wishes and having the court notify his lawyer. Today’s hearing will be for consideration of an Omnibus Pretrial Motion which includes a request to dismiss the charges against him, release him on nominal bond, and suppress the evidence against him.
Brown is charged with six felony offenses, including two counts of accidents involving death or personal injury while not licensed and single counts of homicide by vehicle, homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, and aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI. There are also two misdemeanor DUI charges and nine summary traffic offenses. He admitted to state police that he had taken heroin and smoked marijuana before the crash and said he was driving instead of the car’s owner, Michael White of Punxsutawney, because White had taken drugs too, and Brown thought he would be the better driver.
Today’s hearing is scheduled for 8:30 AM before Judge Thomas Bianco.
Judge Bianco will also consider motions today filed on behalf of a drug defendant and a DUI defendant.
• 38-year-old Suzanna Farabaugh of Ligonier is charged with possession with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia, along with two summary offenses. The incident happened last July.
Farabaugh’s Omnibus Pretrial Motions include a request for suppression of evidence.
• 47-year-old Dean Anthony Smith of Creekside has filed Omnibus Pretrial Motions in his driving under the influence case from last July. Smith is currently serving time in state prison for a 2015 conviction for driving under the influence after an arrest and subsequent parole for the same offense in the same year
