Legal landscape covers COVID lawsuits, murder sentencing
For most of 2020, the spread of the coronavirus halted most court proceedings and brought the justice system to a crawl after Judge William Shaffer, acting administrative judge in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, enacted restrictions March 18 limiting access to the courthouse, county government center and courtrooms to only those who had direct business there.
The orders were lifted May 31, but the county was unable to call a jury selection to try any cases.
Lawsuits were filed in the state over election and COVID-19 restrictions.While the coronavirus brought a halt to many court proceedings on the county level, the state and federal levels saw activity related to how the government has responded to the virus. Many of the actions sought to reverse Gov. Tom Wolf's shutdown orders, while other suits targeted attempts to make voting by mail and other alternatives easier.The legal actions had varying degrees of success.
In early November, a state judge rejected a request from U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, and Sean Parnell, who challenged U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-17th, to toss out provisional ballots after counties allowed voters who erred in completing or packaging their mail-in ballots to correct their mistakes. Instead, he ordered a recount of provisional ballots known as “cured.”
In September, U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV agreed with arguments that Wolf's business shutdown and stay-at-home orders violated certain constitutional rights.The plaintiffs include Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, four Republican lawmakers and several small businesses in those counties.Stickman found that Wolf's restrictions on crowd sizes violated the right of assembly that is protected by the First Amendment. Stickman also found that Wolf's stay-at-home-order and business closure mandate violated the due process clause in the 14th Amendment.
Gary Ellenberger's attempted homicide trial was put on hold because of jury selection issues.Several attempts were aborted to call a jury to try Ellenberger, 58, of Chicora for the attempted homicide of a man at a bar in 2018.Ellenberger's case was originally scheduled to go to trial in April, according to court documents, but the matter was rescheduled after the virus outbreak.Two more attempts were made in the fall. Judge Timothy McCune, who would preside over the trial, canceled the attempts, citing virus concerns and the senior age of many of the potential jurors.Despite jury trial suspension, other cases moved along in one way or another.
In late June, a 37-year-old Mercer County man was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for murdering a man in 2017.Joshua K. Greaves spent the past three years in Butler County Prison after he was charged May 8, 2017, with the murder of Gregory Bosko. On May 29, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of murder in the third degree and a felony charge of theft.“Life is precious, I know that,” Greaves said before his sentence was handed down. “But that doesn't justify murder. Bosko didn't deserve it. I'm responsible for his death. I've caused a wave of detriment to many. I'm sorry to the Bosko family, to my family and the community as a whole.”Bosko's family attended the sentencing, with several members of Greaves' family sitting across the aisle. The two sides painted vastly different pictures of Greaves. Bosko's daughter, Nicole Bosko, called Greaves a monster, while Greaves' mother said he was a sensitive and artistic child.
In early June, visiting Judge Timothy Creany sentenced John Paul Doerr for 35 counts of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility, which refers to the computer Doerr used to collect child pornography.In total, Doerr was sentenced to five years probation with the first six months on a modified house arrest with electronic monitoring. Doerr also had to pay $1,950 in fines and must register as a sex offender for 15 years. His access to the internet will be monitored for two years.Creany was brought in from Cambria County after all the Butler County judges recused themselves. And the Butler County District Attorney made a similar decision, deferring prosecution in the case to Senior Deputy Attorney General Chuck Washburn with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.
In July, events surrounding one of Butler County's most notorious criminal cases were hotly debated during a hearing about repealing the double-murder conviction against Colin Abbott, 49, of Randolph, N.J.Abbott was sentenced to a 35-to-80-year prison sentence. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. Since then, Abbott has made multiple attempts to back out of the deal and have a trial.
On the federal side, cases continued to move along.In late May, Stephanie and Scott Roskovski pleaded guilty in the case charging them with embezzling from the Butler Health System.In federal court, Scott Roskovski pleaded guilty May 28 to charges of filing a false loan application and filing a false income tax return. A day earlier, his wife, Stephanie Roskovski, pleaded guilty to embezzling upward of $1.3 million from BHS.The Center Township couple was accused of defrauding the health care system between 2011 and 2017, including mail fraud, while Stephanie Roskovski was employed as the chief operating officer for BHS.At the time she was fired by the regional health care system, she was earning $450,000 annually, plus bonuses.In another case, the sexual misconduct and discrimination case against a judge moved to mediation.After more than a year of inactivity, the federal case related to allegations of sexual misconduct at Butler County's Courthouse started up again.It was reported in late November that Crystal Starnes, a probation officer for the county, first filed allegations in 2017 that President Judge Thomas Doerr engaged in sexual misconduct and discrimination against her.After more than a year of court maneuvering that kept the case static, a federal judge moved the case to mediation to begin in mid-January. The move is an attempt to get the matter settled out of court. Since that November decision, there have been no indications on how negotiations are going for both sides.
