Senior judge: no out-of-county trial, jury selection, for now
A defendant charged with harassing, stalking and threatening a judge won’t necessarily be able to move his trial outside of Washington County, but the jurist ruling on the case will permit him to again raise the issue when a jury is being selected for his trial.
James Carlo Quisenberry, 47, of McMurray, also asked for an alternative: that jurors from another county be brought to the Washington County Courthouse to hear his case.
Although no trial date has been set, Senior Judge Gerald Solomon of Fayette County, who is assigned to Washington County Court, also denied the request for out-of-county jurors, but gave Quisenberry’s attorney leeway to present his motion at jury selection.
Cecil Township police charged Quisenberry earlier this year with making terroristic threats, stalking and two counts of making harassing phone calls and hang-up calls to Washington County Judge Valarie Costanzo after the end of their relationship.
A short time before a preliminary hearing on the charges, there was a confrontation in which punches were thrown inside a sandwich shop.
Peters Township police charged Quisenberry with a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct in connection with the fight.
District Judge Jesse Pettit in early September dismissed the original charge filed in connection with the fight and reduced it to a non-traffic summary citation. The online docket entry shows a disposition of “guilty.”