Attorneys for Ray Shetler, Jr. are calling for charges to be dismissed in a case from 2021 because Westmoreland County’s trial system violates a person’s right to a speedy trial.
The call came from assistant public defender Mike Garafalo in a hearing that happened yesterday. Shetler was arrested in December of 2021 after he allegedly attacked an officer trying to take him into custody at a mobile home in Seward. He was wanted for failing to appear for a probation revocation hearing. During the arrest, Shetler was hit in the eye with a taser.
Garafalo said that Westmoreland County’s court system is set up to have trials for criminal defendants during one five-day period every month, and that has caused a delay that goes beyond the one-year deadline for a trial to commence for those not in custody, or a six-month deadline if a person is incarcerated.
Prosecutors say that the delays due to courtroom availability is something that their office cannot control, and there have been multiple postponements requested by the defense.
Shetler is set to go on trial on October 2nd.
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