Judge may dismiss robbery case after lack of evidence from DA
A Washington County judge is contemplating whether to dismiss a robbery case against a Washington man after the county’s district attorney’s office failed to produce exculpatory evidence prior to the trial.
Shayne Coffield, 24, was to appear before Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle for the start of his jury trial Tuesday. But instead of opening statements, DiSalle was presented with a motion to dismiss the charges by Coffield’s attorney, Amanda Como.
Como said she was only provided with the prosecution’s investigative material and two letters written by their key witness Tuesday morning, just as the trial was set to begin. Como said that one of the letters contained information that would exonerate her client.
Coffield is accused of participating in a robbery of a Four Star delivery driver March 9, 2013. Coffield was accused of the robbery along with co-defendants Christopher Pitzarella, 24, of Washington, and Michael Stienstraw, 27, of Claysville. Pitzarella pleaded guilty to the robbery and was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail. The charges against Stienstraw were dismissed after DiSalle found the district attorney’s office failed to bring the case to trial in 365 days, as required under state court Rule 600.
The letters were written by Pitzarella and mailed or delivered to the district attorney’s office over the last year. In the first letter, Pitzarella claims Coffield did not commit the robbery. In the second letter, he recants his previous statement, claiming he was threatened by Coffield to write the earlier letter.
Coffield and Pitzarella are codefendants in another robbery case, where they were accused of holding up the Uni-Mart at 336 E. Maiden St., Washington, in March 2013 and shooting one of two clerks working that day. Pitzarella pleaded guilty in the case. Coffield was found not guilty after a two-day jury trial in June.
Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann said he only learned of the letters Tuesday morning. They were found in the Uni-Mart file, but were not presented or used in that case, he said.
Como said the district attorney’s office has a responsibility to provide her with that information.
“This is intentional prosecutorial misconduct,” Como said. “They failed to adhere to the rules.”
Como said that if the district attorney’s office wasn’t punished, it would have no incentive to prevent something like this from happening again.
“This is a blatant disregard for the rules,” she said. “They need to pay more attention to their cases.”
DiSalle was concerned that the letters were in the prosecution’s possession for the first case, but weren’t disclosed.
“This put the defendant at risk,” he said.
DiSalle, who dismissed the jury Tuesday for the day after he became aware of the letters and Como’s motion, continued the trial to October. He said he must research whether the information warrants a dismissal.
Both Friedmann and Como declined comment.
Coffield was returned to Washington County jail.