PITTSBURGH — A Butler School District alumnus accused of making online threats against the district will have to wait to see if the case against him will effectively be dismissed.
Bryan Flecken, 28, of Bridgeville, was scheduled Thursday for a nonjury trial before county Judge Randal Todd. But after a brief hearing in Allegheny County Court, that proceeding never got off the ground. Todd heard arguments on two motions filed by Flecken's lawyer, Giuseppe Rosselli.
Rosselli last month filed pretrial motions asking Todd to consider whether prosecutors had improperly withdrawn a plea deal in the case, and a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus — essentially arguing that Flecken's online postings, which prompted FBI agents and police to investigate and arrest him on misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats, had been taken out of context and that his incarceration — 26 days in Allegheny County Jail and five months on electronic monitoring — was excessive.
Flecken remains on electronic monitoring, Rosselli said Thursday, and was only released from jail after his bail was reduced from $250,000 to non-monetary on March 9, after a hearing.
Flecken was arrested by South Fayette police after an incident on Feb. 16 in Allegheny County, in which he allegedly made threatening Facebook posts against Butler schools.
Allegheny Count Assistant District Attorney Taylor Staiger acknowledged Thursday that she had offered a plea deal to Flecken last month. The agreement would have allowed him to plead guilty to one summary count of disorderly conduct.
Rosselli said that offer was enthusiastically accepted by his client on July 23, the same day it was made. But, he told Judge Todd, Rosselli later received word that the District Attorney's Office had rescinded the offer because of a policy that forbids plea agreements in cases involving school threats.
Staiger said she made the offer unaware of the policy, and Todd ultimately ruled that no plea deal had been struck in the case.
He did not immediately rule Thursday on Rosselli's petition and ultimately the defense — which had been prepared to call Flecken to the stand during a non-jury trial, where he would have testified regarding his Facebook posts to “provide context,” Rosselli said — had to be rescheduled the proceeding for late September.
Rosselli, during arguments before Todd on Thursday, said Flecken had acted “in very poor judgment and poor taste,” in making the postings, but had not intended to cause terror or any public inconvenience. “There was no serious public inconvenience,” Rosselli argued before Todd. “He's a participant to a conversation in response to other people's posts.”
