Mar 22, 2019 3 min read

A jury acquitted a Burgettstown man whose attorney contended a 2017 nonfatal stabbing was a case of self-defense on his client’s part.

Jurors found Jeffrey Painter Jr., 27, not guilty on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, possession of a weapon and other charges stemming from an incident early Dec. 31 that year. McDonald police who filed the charges said Painter had stabbed then-21-year-old Michael Miller during a fight on the street in front of Painter’s house on Center Avenue.

Jurors returned the verdict after deliberating for about two-and-a-half hours on March 15, the second day of Painter’s trial before Washington County Judge Valarie Costanzo.

Police said in court papers they responded to a 911 call about 12:40 a.m. and found Miller at his house on Dinsmore Avenue. Officers from nearby departments found Painter in his backyard, where he was smoking marijuana. He still had a small sheath knife with him.

Painter cooperated with police. During his trial, he admitting he’d stabbed Miller, but maintained he’d done so to protect himself.

Miller is the taller and heavier of the two men.

“Jeffrey Painter’s testimony stayed consistent from what he told police to what he testified to,” said Assistant Public Defender Adam Yarussi, who represented Painter.

Painter, who works in carpentry, carried the knife for his job and was still wearing his work clothes, Yarussi said.

Police interviewed Miller later that morning at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh. Police said Miller claimed Painter had attacked him following an argument, stabbing Miller in the shoulder and neck after Miller pushed him down and he got back up.

Yarussi said Miller’s account to police was contradicted by a boastful Facebook post.

“He just basically said (in the post) that he didn’t even know that he got stabbed because he was beating up Jeffrey Painter,” Yarussi said.

Jamie Willhoft – a witness to the fight who’d been riding with Miller in his vehicle before the fight started and who knew both men – testified during the trial, as did Miller and Painter.

Yarussi said he thought the Facebook post was important to the outcome of the case because it “showed inconsistency between what Michael Miller testified to, what Jamie Willhoft testified to, versus what Michael Miller posted on Facebook.”

Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann said his office had believed the case to be an aggravated assault, but accepted the jury’s decision.

“If that’s their determination, then we respect that,” Friedmann said.

Costanzo found Painter guilty on a low-level misdemeanor count of possessing a small amount of marijuana and acquitted him on a summary count of harassment. He will be sentenced on the marijuana charge before the same judge following an investigation by county adult probation officials.

Painter faces pending charges including witness intimidation and making terroristic threats based on an Oct. 30 incident that also took place in Burgettstown and involved Willhoft, Miller and Miller’s father, Larry.

Following the verdict, Costanzo changed the terms of Painter’s bond to allow for his release from the Washington County jail on unsecured bond.