Jury Trial

A teenager charged as an adult in connection with the accidental shooting of a 2-year-old boy in September requested a jury trial in Washington County Circuit Court during an appearance Wednesday in district court. Fantaisa Shantal Rivera, 17, of 400B Park Place, Hagerstown, had already been scheduled for a Jan. 19, 2011, hearing to determine whether her case can be transferred to the juvenile court system, according to court records. Rivera is charged with obstructing justice, making false statements to police, possession of a firearm by a minor, theft of less than $1,000 and possession of a handgun in the Sept.

A Smithsburg man who was charged after he was found Jan. 20 passed out in a vehicle in which police found two revolvers and ammunition on Warner Hollow Road has requested a jury trial in Washington County Circuit Court, according to a Washington County District Court spokeswoman. The case against Steven Glenn Palmer, 58, will be transferred to Washington County Circuit Court for trial, the spokeswoman said. Palmer is charged with transporting two handguns, driving under the influence of alcohol, trespassing, second-degree assault and resisting arrest, according to court records.

A jury trial was requested Tuesday in Washington County District Court on charges that former Funkstown Moose Lodge Administrator David Brandenburg embezzled more than $36,000 from the club over five months, court documents state. Brandenburg, 52, of 13822 North Valley Drive in Hagerstown, was scheduled to have a trial before a District Court judge Tuesday, but he requested the case be sent to Circuit Court for a jury trial, Washington County State's Attorney Charles Strong said.

A Sharpsburg woman charged with 77 counts of animal cruelty requested a jury trial in Washington County Circuit Court. The request for a jury trial was delivered Friday, court documents show. Barbara Reinken faces four felony charges and has a right to a jury trial because of the gravity of the charges. The 73 misdemeanor animal-cruelty counts allege Reinken failed to provide for 72 horses and one cat at her Windrinker Farm at 4040 Mills Road in Sharpsburg. The four felony aggravated animal-cruelty counts allege Reinken failed to provide for four horses that died.

A Berkeley Springs, W.Va., contractor charged with threatening a Hancock Town Councilman and making a false report to police has requested a jury trial, Assistant Washington County State's Attorney Robert Veil said. Victor Wyn Dill, 52, made his request for a trial prior to a scheduled appearance in Washington County District Court Wednesday morning, Veil said. Dill, who was hired by the town to perform work on its water plant, was charged on June 27 following an argument on May 30 with Councilman Darwin Mills.

A former Hagerstown Water and Sewer Department employee charged with threatening to "blow up" his supervisor asked Tuesday in Washington County District Court that his case be heard by a jury. The arson/threat charge against Lloyd Dale Allison, 27, of 56 Opal Court, Martinsburg, W.Va., will be forwarded to Washington County Circuit Court for a jury trial. The charge is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine or both. Charging documents allege that Allison described to a co-worker on Aug. 26 how he would blow up supervisor David Scriever at the sewer collections building off Frederick Street.

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. - A former Hagerstown resident charged with raping two women in Franklin County almost three years ago appeared to be on the verge of a plea agreement Friday in Franklin County Court, but instead has asked for a jury trial "We thought we had a plea agreement ... apparently Mr. Srun just decided to change his mind," said Assistant District Attorney David Rahauser, referring to Pov Srun, who is charged with sexually assaulting two...

A Hagerstown man has requested a jury trial on negligent vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with an accident on Mount Aetna Road that claimed two lives in October 2002. Matthew David Meyer, 23, of 11010 Sani Lane, was charged in April in the deaths of Gerald Eugene Dietrich, 59, and Mary Ellen Dietrich, 61, who lived in the 2000 block of Academy Lane in Hagerstown. Charging documents allege that Meyer was driving at a high rate of speed in the 20200 block of Mount Aetna Road on Oct. 23, 2002, when his vehicle struck the Dietrichs' pickup head on. Meyer was injured in the wreck.

Merle Unger will get a new trial for his 1976 felony murder conviction in the shooting death of a Hagerstown police officer, but only after agreeing to a number of conditions, including giving up his right to a jury trial. Talbot County Circuit Judge Broughton M. Earnest will hear the case beginning Monday in Easton, Md., according to court records outlining the agreement. Unger, who is serving a life sentence for the 1975 shooting death of  police Officer Donald Kline, also is giving up his right to cross-examine witnesses.

The administrator and former chief of The Volunteer Fire Co. of Halfway, Md. Inc., requested a jury trial on theft  and theft scheme charges during an appearance Thursday in District Court. District Judge Ralph H. France II ordered the case of Jeffrey C. Ringer forwarded to Circuit Court. Ringer, 53, of 11221 Hollywood Road in Hagerstown, was charged earlier this year with misusing more than $10,000 in company funds over four years to pay for bar and restaurant bills, and a family member's tuition, according to the application for statement of charges filed by Maryland State Police.

The case of a former Blue Ridge Community and Technical College student accused of repeatedly violating the school's campus ban on firearms is set to go to trial in Berkeley County Magistrate Court. Joshua Lee Beck, 28, of Martinsburg, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of possession of firearms on the school's campuses in October 2011. Berkeley County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christine Riley said Tuesday that no plea offer had been extended to Beck, who is being represented by Martinsburg attorney William J. Powell.

A Hagerstown man accused of stealing a boy's wallet at the North Hagerstown High School stadium asked for a jury trial during an appearance Thursday in Washington County District Court. Douglas Drew Hornbecker, 50, of 1136 Green Lane, is charged with theft under $1,000 in the June 4 incident, court documents said. By asking for a jury trial, his case will go to Circuit Court. The boy told police he was at the stadium for soccer practice that afternoon and placed his cell phone and a wallet containing $625 under a row of bleachers, according to the application for statement of charges filed by Hagerstown police.

The trial of a Chambersburg man charged with killing his son two years ago began Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court with the defense playing 911 tapes from before and after the fatal shooting during its opening statement to the jury. Jerry D. Rowe, 57, is charged with criminal homicide in the Oct. 16, 2010, shooting of his son, 27-year-old Nathaniel Rowe, in Jerry Rowe's home at 925 Duncan Ave. Assistant District Attorney Laura Kerstetter told the jury that the charge encompasses a range of offenses from first- and third-degree murder to voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

The defendant and the victim were both in jail and available for trial, but five prosecution witnesses failed to show Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court, delaying for two months the trial of a 16-year-old city teen charged with attempted murder. Maurice Davoughn McMillan, of 623 N. Locust St. in Hagerstown is charged with second-degree attempted murder, first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment in the Oct. 9, 2011, stabbing of Jarvel Fostion. Fostion, 18, of 106 W. Bethel St., Apt. B, Hagerstown, was stabbed five times in the torso, according to city police charging documents.

Rebecca Jean Ferguson, a former Berkeley County public school teacher, is facing up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to eight counts of identity theft in Berkeley County Circuit Court. Ferguson, 40, of 10245 Williamsport Pike in Falling Waters, W.Va., set up eight credit card accounts using her then-14-year-old daughter's name, according to testimony at a 2 1/2-hour pretrial hearing Monday before 23rd Circuit Judge Christopher Wilkes. The plea bargain calls for Wilkes to sentence Ferguson to serve a maximum of 10 years in prison.

A state commission has reprimanded Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell for intentionally misleading attorneys into thinking they had less than 24 hours to prepare for a trial as motivation to settle their case. As Washington County's administrative judge, McDowell on Feb. 15 set a jury trial for the next day in a civil case, despite knowing that it wouldn't happen, according to a state Commission on Judicial Disabilities' written reprimand. He ordered a clerk to publish and post a docket sheet, even though he "knew that the case would not be heard by a jury on February 16, 2011, and that no jurors were to be called in for the case," the reprimand said.

A Hagerstown man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court to possession of PCP in a case connected to the investigation of the accidental shooting of his 2-year-old son last year. Glenn Darvin Goode, 52, of 12842 Little Elliott Drive, pleaded guilty to possession of the powerful hallucinogenic drug phencyclidine in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of contributing to the condition of a child in need of assistance, Assistant State's Attorney Brett Wilson said.

An alleged accomplice was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for armed robbery, but a Hagerstown man charged in the same incident had his case placed on the inactive docket Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court. Jean L. Colas, 21, of 19030 Longmeadow Road, was charged with armed robbery, robbery, reckless endangerment, second-degree assault, theft, and possession of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia in connection with a holdup at his home May 14, court records said.