Home invasion charges dismissed dismissed | News, Sports, Jobs

In a decision released last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of charges against the alleged mastermind of a home invasion robbery in Tyrone nearly four years ago.

The incident on January 21, 2021, resulted in the arrest of three people in the area: James Kelly Johnson-Ross, Kyler Luckadoo, and Jason Sanderlin.

Luckadoo and Sanderlin allegedly broke into a Tyrone home looking for money and drugs, but police charged Johnson-Ross, who was not part of the entry team, as the person who planned the robbery and provided the transportation, clothing and weapons they used. robbers.

Mirror records show Luckadoo, 23, pleaded guilty in February to several charges, including home invasion-related charges that carry a sentence of 8.5 to 17 years in prison.

Sanderlin, 24, entered the plea in July 2023 to several charges, including those related to home invasion, which carries a sentence of four to eight years in prison.

But Johnson-Ross, 25, opted for a jury trial but ultimately requested the charges be dismissed due to violations of Pennsylvania’s speedy trial rules.

On December 1, 2023, Blair County Presiding Judge Wade A. Kagarise ruled that the defendant’s speedy trial rights were violated and that the multiple charges against him warrant dismissal of the case.

The judge ruled that the Commonwealth’s “failure to bring the defendant to trial before the expiration of Rule 600 constitutes grounds for dismissing the charges with prejudice.”

Rule 600 is Pennsylvania’s speedy trial rule that requires people accused of crimes to be arraigned within 365 days.

However, if the defense causes a delay, for example by requesting a hearing or requesting further examination of evidence, the expedited trial period is put on hold.

In making his decision, the judge emphasized that the prosecution had not responded “with due diligence” to requests for discovery (witness statements and other evidence) requested by Johnson-Ross’ lawyer, Alessandro Giribaldi of Media.

The Kagarise warrant resulted in the dismissal of charges against Johnson-Ross, which included robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, harassment, reckless endangerment of another person, simple assault and terroristic threats.

But Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that circumstances beyond his office’s control caused the delays.

However, the judge noted that the defense did not respond to the defense’s latest petition for dismissal for lack of a speedy trial, citing an example of, in his opinion, the prosecution’s failure to exercise due diligence.

Weeks said his office has received no notice of the petition.

Despite the Commonwealth’s argument, Kagarise wrote in his opinion: “This court takes no pleasure in dismissing serious charges in this matter. “However, the Court has given the Commonwealth ample opportunity to act diligently in prosecuting this matter.”

It eventually became clear that Johnson-Ross’s constitutional and legal rights “did not allow for further opportunities,” Kagarise said.

The Supreme Court panel, including Justices Alice B. Dubow, Megan King, and John T. Bender, stated the following in their 14-page opinion: “Accordingly, we found no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to dismiss the charges here.

“We note that the complaint accusing Johnson-Ross was filed on February 4, 2021. The case was dismissed on December 1, 2023, which is 1,030 days later.”

In its evaluation of the case, the appeals court noted that the 637-day delay in bringing the case to trial was the result of the actions of the defense, which included requesting a hearing on the evidence and petitions requesting additional information.

According to the Supreme Court panel’s calculations, the Johnson-Ross trial was supposed to begin on or before November 3, 2023, at the latest.

Kagarise pleaded not guilty to the charges on December 1, 2023, after the trial expired.

Weeks said he is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court, but that will be decided later.

Johnson-Ross remains in jail while charges in Blair County remain unclear.

Weeks explained that he was incarcerated at the State Department of Corrections in Greene County on an outstanding warrant on other charges.

An important factor in analyzing a Rule 600 challenge is whether the government “conducted due diligence and whether the circumstances that led to the postponement were beyond the Commonwealth’s control.”

According to the appeals court, if due diligence is not exercised by the prosecution, “the court will dismiss the charges and discharge the defendant.”

As for the Johnson-Ross case, Kagarise listed three circumstances that led to his decision to dismiss the charges.

He concluded that the prosecution, due to apparent carelessness, failed to timely provide the defense with a report on the DNA evidence collected during the investigation. The defense argued that the report would be explanatory or helpful in preparing the case.

“The Commonwealth never explained why the report was not handed over (to the defence) for several months,” Kagarise said.

Citing a second situation, the judge at one point cited the jury selected to try Johnson-Ross, but said the trial had to be canceled after jury selection because the prosecution gave the defense a 619-page state police report containing information about the incident. defense. In appealing the cancellation decision, Weeks took the view that the report was a compilation of material previously provided.

Kagarise referred to the pre-trial directives and stated: “It is clear that every one of them (their orders) was disregarded by the Commonwealth; As a result of the late preparation of this report, the jury trial was canceled.”

Citing a third situation, Kagarise said he ordered the Commonwealth to respond to the defense’s final petition for dismissal but never did so.

State court records show Johnson-Ross’s alleged accomplices also remain in prison: Sanderlin at SCI Smithfield, Luckadoo at SCI Albion.