State charges dropped against Waynesburg man shot by police
Julius Hurt
WAYNESBURG – All state charges have been dropped against a Waynesburg man shot by borough police after he allegedly pointed a gun at an officer in May, in order to allow the case to proceed in federal court.
Greene County District Attorney Marjorie Fox made the request Oct. 20 that charges against Julius Maurice Hurt be withdrawn, just two days after he was indicted in federal court on charges involving the possession with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine and the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, court records indicate.
Hurt, 32, of 329 E. Franklin St., had been facing state charges in Greene County – including attempted homicide of a police officer – in connection with the May 3 incident in which Waynesburg police Officer Charles Sochor shot him once in the ankle after investigators said Hurt pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer during a foot chase in the borough.
“My understanding, in speaking to federal prosecutors, their policy was not to have contemporaneous charges pending,” Fox said Thursday. “In order to facilitate his transfer to federal court, we dropped the charges here to go straight to the federal level.”
Greene County Judge Lou Dayich agreed to the request Oct. 24 following the pretrial conference the previous week.
Hurt was transferred into federal custody on a detainer in November to await trial. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Moschetta, who also serves as a Washington County assistant district attorney, is handling the federal case.
He declined to comment on the case, and no trial date has been set. Hurt’s attorney in the federal case, Linda Cohn, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The federal charges on Oct. 18 came six days after Fox offered Hurt a plea bargain, which was rebuffed when his public defender, Harry Cancelmi, asked for more time to review the offer.
Cancelmi and Assistant Public Defender Kimberly Furmanek said Thursday Hurt was offered a deal under which he was to plead guilty to receiving stolen property, felon not to carry a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license in exchange for prosecutors dropping the felony attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges. The plea deal would have carried a sentence of four to 12 years in prison.
“No thought in taking that,” Cancelmi said. “We never accepted an offer.”
Cancelmi said his office was notified of the state charges being dropped in October, but he just learned of it, personally, when a reporter called Thursday morning seeking comment.
In a handwritten letter to Dayich postmarked July 17, Hurt complained Cancelmi had yet to meet with him two months after the charges were filed and had assigned three different lawyers to plead his case at the local level.
Hurt wrote, “this is a big case and he acts like it is nothing to him.” He also asked for a meeting with Cancelmi. Dayich forwarded the letter to Cancelmi, court documents show.
Two state police search warrants unsealed Thursday at the request of the Observer-Reporter show investigators were looking for information and records on eight cellphones in Hurt’s possession, four of which were found at the scene and four others at his residence. Police said they also found a rifle, bullets and drug paraphernalia in the residence, court documents show.
Police also asked Facebook to freeze Hurt’s social media account and release any messages sent by the user after an April 19 video allegedly showed Hurt discussing possession of firearms.
Hurt was not permitted to own firearms after he was arrested multiple times in Wheeling, W.Va., and charged with malicious wounding. One of the guns found following the Waynesburg incident was reported stolen in West Virginia, court documents show.
Doctors at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., told investigators they found Hurt in possession of two bags of suspected cocaine.