A Common Pleas Court jury is expected to begin deliberating Wednesday in the trial of an East Brady woman who is charged with illegally transferring ownership of her former son-in-law's Jeep to herself, but said she followed state rules to claim the vehicle.

Mary Dahl, 66, is facing three felony charges of theft by deception and misdemeanor charges of securing execution of documents by deception and unsworn falsifications filed by the Butler County Detective's office.

On Sept. 18, 2018, Dahl filed a motion for involuntary transfer of vehicle ownership in civil court after claiming she made the required notifications, but received no response from the Jeep's owner, Samuel Donelly, who had a child with and was married to Dahl's daughter; Dahl's daughter is deceased. Dahl signed the motion “Mary Dahl t/d/b/a Interstate Builders,” a construction company she owns.

On Nov. 29, 2018, Judge S. Michael Yeager granted the motion, awarding the 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee to Dahl.

At an evidentiary hearing before Yeager in July 2019, New Bethlehem police officers testified that they responded to Dahl's home on East Second Street, where Donelly also lived, in East Brady, Clarion County, for a possible hostage situation, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Detective John Hertzog.Donelly and a friend were there to move out with the small child and pick up his Jeep, which was parked in the driveway, but blocked by another vehicle.Police said Donelly repeatedly asked for the Jeep and told police a custody agreement and visitation order from Clarion County Court was in place, according to the affidavit. Donelly eventually left without the child or Jeep.In the documents she submitted to transfer ownership of the Jeep, Dahl listed the address of Interstate Builders on Kittanning Street in Butler and noted no other address for herself, and referred to the Jeep as being abandoned on her private property, according to the affidavit.One of the notices about transferring ownership she was required to send to Donelly was sent to her home in East Brady, where he had lived but moved out. The other one was sent to 123 N. Main St. in Chicora, the address of Chicora Firearms, a business owned by Dahl and her family, that has an apartment above. Hertzog said Donelly told him he never lived at the Chicora address.

From July through December 2018, according to the affidavit, Dahl had as many as 18 personal contacts with Donelly during custody exchanges and court appearances, but never returned the Jeep or told him about the civil action she initiated.Donelly reported that during a September 2018 custody hearing, Dahl said she would not return the Jeep because he owed her money.Dahl didn't inform Yeager that Donelly was her son-in-law and father to her grandchild and misled the court to believe she didn't know him, according to the affidavit.In July 2019, Yeager vacated his previous order and granted ownership of the Jeep back to Donelly. Hertzog wrote that Dahl kept the Jeep from Donelly since June 26, 2018.In drivewayDahl testified under questioning from her attorney, J. Lansing Hills, and said Donelly left her home without telling her where he was moving on June 23, 2018. She said she thought he would contact her about the Jeep, but he didn't. The vehicle was in her driveway for three months, she said. He didn't provide a change of address, she added.Dahl said she followed the instructions from PennDOT on how to fill out the involuntary vehicle ownership transfer documents and obtained Donelly's addresses through PennDOT.She said she sent certified letters about the vehicle ownership transfer to both addresses and published notices about the transfer application in the Butler County legal journal and the Butler Eagle.The vehicle ownership information she received from PennDOT listed a post office box in Chicora as the address to where the Jeep was registered and to the East Brady address because the Jeep was parked there, Dahl said.She said followed PennDOT rules for contacting Donelly, but got no response.Dahl said Donelly lived on her property for three years, including some time after her daughter died.Under cross examination by Mark Lope, assistant district attorney, Dahl said the Jeep was in Clarion County, but she filed the motion to transfer ownership in Butler County.She said Donelly didn't have permission to leave the Jeep at her home.

At a custody hearing in November 2018, she said she told Donelly she was taking steps to claim the Jeep, but didn’t tell him a hearing on the matter had been scheduled for later that month. She said he did not ask her for the vehicle.She said she published the notices about the ownership transfer in Butler County because that’s where the vehicle was registered. The address of Donelly’s driver’s license was in Clarion County, she said.Dahl said she obtained court documents indicating he moved to Allegheny County. Donelly did not disclose his new address on other court documents, she said.Senior Judge Anthony J. Vardaro told the jury of 11 women and three men to return at 9 a.m. Wednesday for closing arguments, instruction and deliberations.