Judge denies reduction
A Penn Township man will continue to be held in the Butler County Prison pending the disposition of felony firearms charges, after a Butler County judge denied a bail reduction motion on Tuesday.
Judge William Shaffer heard argument in Butler County Court on Tuesday in the case against Shawn E. McDonell, 37, who was charged with five counts of felony possession of a prohibited firearm, after Penn Township police said he illegally possessed two AK-47-style rifles and several handguns in July 2016. Those charges were tossed by Shaffer during a jury trial on April 19, moments before the case would have been put to the jury to deliberate.
McDonell is being held on $10,000 bond on that case, charged on July 4, 2016, as well as $50,000 on another firearms case, charged on July 20, 2016.
Shaffer said during the proceeding that he would take the arguments regarding nominal bond under advisement and issued a written denial order later that day.
McDonell's attorney, Public Defender Joseph Smith, asked for the reduction due to the acquittal. McDonell has been held since Aug. 30, according to Smith.
Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz argued that McDonell has not only a second firearms case pending, but also a simple assault case against him, where the victim is listed as his wife, and was concerned regarding McDonell's living situation and the no contact provision inherent in that case. Smith told the court that McDonell's wife has since vacated his Penn Township home, which is still available to him for residence.
Schultz also said that while McDonell has several other cases pending, law enforcement is also currently investigating allegations that a witness in the case in which he was acquitted was threatened regarding his testimony.
Schultz had asked that if bond be reduced, an electronic monitoring, or house arrest, condition be imposed.
The acquittal on the firearms charges came after Shaffer determined that a previous felony conviction in Virginia did not meet the felony aggravated assault statute in Pennsylvania, which had been argued by the prosecution, and therefore McDonell was allowed to possess the firearms in Pennsylvania.
Schultz had argued that a felony unlawful wounding charge in Henrico County, Va., equated to the felony charge in Pennsylvania. However, following an oral motion to acquit from McDonell's attorneys Public Defender Joseph Smith and Kimberly Hudak, Shaffer determined that the statutes did not equate.
The judgment followed several hours of prosecution testimony from two Penn Township police officers, as well as a man who testified that McDonell had given him a gun after meeting each other in a mental health facility.
McDonell is also facing charges in two cases alleged to have occurred on the same day, July 1, with the assault case against his wife, as well as charges stemming from him allegedly deliberately driving his pickup truck toward a tent filled with dozens of parishioners at a church picnic at the New Life Christian Ministries on Knoch Road in Clinton Township.
