Court can't fill jury due to gun concerns

[Grizzlytrap]

WEST CHESTER – A rare display of public anxiety over open displays of firearms derailed the start of a criminal trial in Common Pleas Court Wednesday.

The case involves James Evan Ferry, who faces charges in connection with a commotion at the ACAC health club in West Goshen just days after the school shootings in Newton, Conn.

Judge William P. Mahon was forced to dismiss a panel of prospective jurors in the case during the jury selection process after an overwhelming number of people said they could not consider the evidence against him fairly, due to his medical condition and his possession of a holstered handgun during the incident.

Ferry, a U.S. Special Forces veteran, suffered a traumatic brain injury while in the service. Although he had a permit to carry the weapon police found on him at the time, more than two-dozen of the panel said their feelings about the matter would prohibit them from judging the case on the merits alone.

“I’m going to have to dismiss you,” the judge told the members.

One of the prospective jurors, who said he was a former law enforcement officer, stood and said he had such strong feelings about the presence of firearms in public that he felt he could not do his job as a juror in the case, even though he knew it is legal to carry openly displayed guns.

Mahon told the attorneys, Assistant District Attorney Anthony F. Rock and defense attorney Joel Benecke of West Chester, that he would continue the case until early April.

Ferry, 26, of Philadelphia, remains free on bail. Mahon noted that he had never witnessed anything like the display of opinion among prospective jurors in his years on the bench.

Interestingly, Ferry – dressed in the courtroom in a conservative dark gray suit and sporting an American flag lapel pin – is not charged with any weapons violation, and did not draw the handgun he was carrying from its holster, or even make mention of it, when he went to the ACAC Fitness Center on McDermott Drive around 4 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2012.

The most serious charge he faces is a felony count of interception of wire, electronic or oral communications, stemming from his recording of a conversation with the club manager without her knowledge. The other counts of disorderly conduct, harassment and terroristic threats are all misdemeanors.

According to court records, Ferry was upset about his inability to discontinue his contract at the popular club. He had spoken with a manager at the club earlier in the day by telephone, who told him his contract could only be voided if he had proof that he was moving out of the area. He did not.

At a preliminary hearing held in March, witnesses testified how they had watched as Ferry went into the ACAC building carrying a handgun on one hip and two ammunition magazines on the other. One employee, physical therapist Bryan Miller, said Ferry “stared down” at him as he passed, and that he “felt threatened” by his demeanor. He “looked determined to get his point across,” Miller testified, according to records.

Miller’s fears were heightened, he said, because the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 26 children and school staff were killed by a lone gunman, had occurred just two weeks prior, on Dec. 14, 2012.

Once inside, Ferry confronted a desk employee, glaring at her harshly and making her uncomfortable. He even cursed at her when she asked him about the weather outside. The woman, Jill Zagora, said she was “pretty scared” by his behavior, and the visible presence of the handgun.

Manager Carie Riley approached him and offered to speak with him in her office. When they went inside, he shut the door behind him. When she told him again that his contract could not be voided, he asked, “What would happen if there was an incident.” He suggested that he would return to the club repeatedly “to make life uncomfortable to its members, calling them vulgar names and using obscenities, police said.

Riley said she felt “cornered and just extremely scared for my safety. I could see how angry he was and I just didn’t know how he would react,” she testified at the preliminary hearing.

Luckily from Riley’s perspective, Zagora had pushed the office panic button and called 911, and Miller had put the club on lock-down status.

When officers Joseph Virgilio and Robert Balchunis of the township police department arrived, they escorted Ferry out of the building and took possession of the handgun for their safety. When patting Ferry down, Balchunis noticed a hard object in one of his pockets that he said felt like a knife. It turned out, however, to be a digital recorder.

When Balchunis, who since has taken a position with the Chester County Detectives, asked Ferry whether they were being recorded, Ferry replied that they were and said he did not want the officer to turn off the recorder.

Balchunis was able to determine that the device had recorded the encounter with Riley in the office, without her knowledge – in violation of state law. He was charged later that day.

In court on Wednesday, defense attorney Benecke told Mahon that his trial strategy would include eliciting testimony from a neuropsychologist who had examined Ferry prior to the incident.

The witness will testify Ferry suffers from short-term memory loss and uses the digital recorder to keep track of things. The recorder, which he carries constantly, had turned on inadvertently during the conversation with Riley, he said.

Benecke said he would use testimony from the neuropsychologist to establish that Ferry’s memory loss is the result of brain injuries his client had suffered while a Marine.

http://www.dailylocal.com/general-ne...o-gun-concerns

[Manxdriver]

One of the prospective jurors, who said he was a former law enforcement officer, stood and said he had such strong feelings about the presence of firearms in public that he felt he could not do his job as a juror in the case, even though he knew it is legal to carry openly displayed guns.

]

If that clown is drawing a pension, it needs to be rescinded!

[unclejumbo]

If that clown is drawing a pension, it needs to be rescinded!

Please, my bet is that he knows what to say so he doesn't get saddled with jury duty. I certainly do having sat through more than a few voir dire.

[customloaded]

A former US Special Forces Soldier "Marine."

That's a new one to me. I have no doubt he was intentionally intimidating the employees at the health club, spa, gym, whatever. I was issued an I-touch to assist me with remembering things to include recording conversations do, in part, to a brain injury.

Question: How does the ADA play into PA wire tapping law as it pertains to individuals with disabilities and are prescribed and trained to use a recording device?

CL

[IIIIIREPOIIIII]

A former US Special Forces Soldier "Marine."

That's a new one to me.

CL

How bout dis won???

[customloaded]

How bout dis won???

I'm down with that...US Army used to be that way....until political correctness came along. There was nothing like have a couple kegs of beer waiting for the Company after a long field training exercise!

CL

[Manxdriver]

Please, my bet is that he knows what to say so he doesn't get saddled with jury duty. I certainly do having sat through more than a few voir dire.

I have a problem with the mind-set of "saddled with". Don't get me wrong, I understand it, but I do have a problem with people who do not want to be bothered to do their civic duty. ESPECIALLY people who were blessed to have a career that came with perks the rest of us 'normal' folks will never get: retirement after 20, full retirement after 30, full benefits with retirement, the list is long and hefty. Since he is probably just sitting back sucking a government tit anyway, why not go and lend his probably considerable expertise to the process?

Again, I understand the mindset, but I don't agree with it.

[JenniferG]

Judge Mahon is one of a few Judges that I consider a straight shooter so to speak. I worked with him as a technical advisor for interpreting event recording equipment on a case for my company before he was a Judge. They went outside and retained him at the time because the case was in Chester County. I got the feeling of the Jack Webb character Sargent Joe Friday "just the facts ma'am".

I don't blame him for letting all those prospective jurors go. These lawyers seem to find the biggest wieners they can because if you have any brains or political pull you know how to get off of serving on jury duty. That's not a vote of confidence for a " trial by a jury of your peers". All of your peers are hiding behind every excuse they can find to not serve.

.

[unclejumbo]

I have a problem with the mind-set of "saddled with". Don't get me wrong, I understand it, but I do have a problem with people who do not want to be bothered to do their civic duty. ESPECIALLY people who were blessed to have a career that came with perks the rest of us 'normal' folks will never get: retirement after 20, full retirement after 30, full benefits with retirement, the list is long and hefty. Since he is probably just sitting back sucking a government tit anyway, why not go and lend his probably considerable expertise to the process?

Again, I understand the mindset, but I don't agree with it.

I agree with you. The only time I was called for jury duty was when I was employed as a Trooper. That's pretty much an automatic exclusion. My wife just got her second call to jury duty in the last five years. I'm jealous, I want to pull a Hunger Games and volunteer as tribute.

[streaker69]

I agree with you. The only time I was called for jury duty was when I was employed as a Trooper. That's pretty much an automatic exclusion. My wife just got her second call to jury duty in the last five years. I'm jealous, I want to pull a Hunger Games and volunteer as tribute.

Can you braid your hair the same way? Can you shoot an apple out of a roast pigs mouth?