Judge drops assault charges
A Washington County judge dismissed charges against a Pittsburgh man accused of striking a Monongahela police officer with his vehicle after determining that a Monongahela constable and the county sheriff’s office failed to show due diligence while serving an arrest warrant.
Washington County Judge Gary Gilman determined that the district attorney’s office failed to bring the case against Roman J. Vukmanovich, 22, to trial within a year, as required under Rule 600.
A hearing on the matter was held Aug. 11, and Gilman filed his opinion on the matter Monday.
Vukmanovich was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault, tampering with evidence and fleeing from police. He was accused of causing officer Kevin Harris to stumble backward when his vehicle struck the officer March 21, 2014, in the 400 block of the borough’s Main Street.
Harris said the driver stopped, and then put the vehicle in reverse onto Route 88, causing three other vehicles to screech to a stop abruptly. The car then traveled forward, struck Harris and drove away south on Route 88, police said.
The officer took down the vehicle’s license plate number.
Assistant District Attorney Jerry Moschetta said the district attorney’s office’s responsibility begins once the judicial process starts, or when the defendant has a preliminary arraignment and preliminary hearing scheduled.
“We have no authority to serve an arrest warrant,” he said.
A criminal complaint against Vukmanovich was filed March 24, 2014, and a warrant was issued the same day for his arrest, according to court documents.
Monongahela constable James Smith was tasked with arresting Vukmanovich, and made two attempts to serve the arrest warrant at Vukmanovich’s residence, without success. Smith testified that he went to Vukmanovich’s home on two occasions during the afternoon hours. Smith said he did not leave paperwork notifying Vukmanovich and did not speak with anyone, court documents show.
A fugitive notice for Vukmanovich was issued May 12, 2014, and it was later determined that the necessary steps to locate Vukmanovich were not fulfilled by the constable, according to court records.
Moschetta said that once a fugitive notice is completed, it becomes the sheriff’s responsibility to locate and arrest a defendant. He said nothing was done between May and January of this year, when Vukmanovich learned of the warrant for his arrest from a police officer who had pulled him over for an unrelated offense.
A formal arraignment was held March 5, and on June 15, Vukmanovich’s attorney, Christopher Blackwell, filed a motion to dismiss. Blackwell did not return calls for comment.
Gilman ruled that “there was no dispute that the Commonwealth failed to call a trial against (Vukmanovich) within the 365 days from the date of the filing of the criminal complaint.”
“There is nothing in Rule 600 or the case law that supports excluding a period of delay from the computation of time simply because a defendant is declared a fugitive,” Gilman said.
Moschetta said he respects the judge’s decision but felt that his argument had merit.
“It should not count, because there was a breakdown in court procedure,” he said.