Nov 17, 2021 5 min read

Driving under the influence charges against Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower Sr.’s son, who was involved in a wrong-way crash on Route 119 in August, have been withdrawn by the special prosecutor assigned to the case.

Uniontown attorney Samuel Davis dropped two misdemeanor charges of DUI against Richard E. Bower Jr. during the Nov. 9 preliminary hearing before District Judge Nathan Henning in Fayette County Central Court.

Summary counts of reckless driving and careless driving also were withdrawn, while Bower Jr. waived to court a newly filed misdemeanor charge of recklessly endangering another person and a summary count of disregarding traffic lanes.

Davis, who was assigned by Bower Sr. to prosecute the case against his son after the Aug. 7 crash near the Fayette County Fairgrounds that injured another motorist, said he decided to drop the DUI charges because of similar cases that were treated in that manner by the district attorney.

“That’s what I did because I thought it was fair and reasonable,” Davis said Tuesday. “It was requested by opposing counsel and opposing counsel provided numerous examples of when that was done by the current district attorney, a long history of those cases that I verified and felt it was reasonable under these circumstances.”

State police said Bower Jr. had a blood-alcohol level of .172% when he crossed the median on Route 119 in Dunbar Township and crashed head-on into a vehicle driven by Joshua Willard, 37, of Adah, who sustained minor injuries. Bower Jr., 29, of Connellsville, was charged Sept. 29 with DUI highest rate because his BAC was more than twice the legal limit to drive a vehicle.

Davis said he expects the case to go through the accelerated rehabilitative disposition program that eventually allows for the case to be wiped from a defendant’s record.

“I treated this young man as others have been treated here in Fayette County routinely,” Davis said. “He was eligible for the ARD program, the loss of (driver’s) license was not necessary in this particular case because of employment reasons and the lack of prior criminal history whatsoever.”

But questions are being raised about why Bower Sr. appointed a private attorney to oversee the case rather than request the state Attorney General’s office to prosecute.

Bruce Antkowiak, a law professor at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, called it an unusual decision, although it ultimately is up to the county’s district attorney to make the decision in such cases.

“I’ve never heard of another lawyer to act as a special prosecutor in a case. Generally, the Attorney General’s office, by statute, is in a position to do that,” Antkowiak said. “I have not heard of that procedure before. It’s unusual.”

In the past, Bower Sr. has asked the Attorney General’s office to prosecute cases in the county when there has been a conflict of interest. When a former Fayette County deputy district attorney faced criminal charges in 2019, including DUI of a controlled substance, the attorney general was called in to prosecute the case.

In addition to Bower Jr. being the district attorney’s son, he is also a member of the county’s Bureau of Investigations overseen by his father’s office. He was not disciplined by his supervisors and has been allowed to remain on the job.

“At some point, you would think it would behoove them to get some explanation to this because obviously there is a lot of public interest and a considerable degree of scrutiny,” Antkowiak said. “It’s not that it needs any further complications at this point. This will be an interesting one to see how this unravels.”

Bower Jr. was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 22, but at some point it was changed to the Nov. 9 date in central court. Court Administrator Karen Kuhn could not be reached for comment Tuesday to explain why the hearing was rescheduled to an earlier date.

Bower Jr.’s defense attorney, David Kaiser, declined to comment because the case is ongoing. Bower Jr. is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the remaining reckless endangerment charge by Judge Steve Leskinen at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 26 in the Fayette County Courthouse. He is free on $5,000 unsecured bond.

Antkowiak said while he does not know all of the details of the case, it is unusual for prosecutors to offer ARD to a defendant in a crash involving alcohol that injured another driver.

“The DA has discretion, but that policy may change from county to county,” he said. “Certainly, where there is a crash with injuries to another party, that is not going to be something most offices would go to with ARD.”

Davis said he has not spoken with Willard, the driver whose vehicle was struck by Bower Jr., on the decision to withdraw the DUI charges or whether he is dealing with lingering health problems since the crash.

“My understanding is that the injuries were minor and did not require further treatment,” Davis said.

“I did not see any issues, and the state police officer didn’t seem to have any problems with it.”