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Woman convicted on most charges for shooting ‘romantic rival’ in Chartiers Township

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A Greene County woman who shot her boyfriend’s estranged wife during a fight in a Chartiers Township mobile home park last July was convicted Thursday on most charges in connection with the shooting that severely injured her “romantic rival.”

Michaela Marie Hildreth, 27, of Nineveh, was emotionless as the jury announced its guilty verdict on two felony counts of aggravated assault, along with three misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and one count of simple assault.

The jury, which acquitted Hildreth on the most serious charge of attempted homicide, deliberated for about three hours following the four-day trial in the Washington County Courthouse. After the verdict was read, Judge Valarie Costanzo revoked Hildreth’s bond and sent her to the Washington County jail to await sentencing at 1 p.m. Sept. 6.

Hildreth shot Amy Mruk in the 200 block of Moon Road in Chartiers Township shortly after midnight July 20 after they had been arguing that night while riding around the area with their mutual love interest, John Mruk Jr., searching for a missing rifle. Mruk was shot in the lung and nearly died.

Deputy District Attorney Cassidy Gerstner, who prosecuted the case, argued in her closing statements Thursday morning that Hildreth was “seizing an opportunity to exact revenge on a romantic rival” and that her behavior immediately after the shooting showed it was premeditated. Gerstner pointed to Hildreth not rendering aid to Mruk following the shooting, along with what she told an emergency dispatcher when she called 911.

“I (expletive) up,” Hildreth said on the call. “I ruined my life.”

She then called her lawyer and sat far away from Mruk as other people placed towels and rags on the gunshot victim’s wound.

“She shot someone in a vital organ after a cat fight,” Gerstner said.

Gerstner also argued that Hildreth did not have to resort to shooting Mruk, and could have easily left the scene in the vehicle if she truly feared for her life during the fight. Gerstner argued that several witnesses said they saw Mruk standing a few feet away from the vehicle with her hands up when she was shot. At least one bullet was found lodged in a nearby mobile home where a family of three was sleeping.

“She had the obligation and the duty to drive away. Step on the gas and drive away,” Gerstner said. “The defendant was excessive, not reasonable and not justified.”

Before wrapping up her closing argument, Gerstner played the 911 call Mruk made in which the victim can be heard crying and gasping for air while others came to her aid.

“We are so lucky Amy is still here,” Gerstner said. “Can you look Amy in the eyes and tell her that her life doesn’t matter because she pulled a hair extension?”

Mruk was initially taken to Washington Hospital, but later flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital, where she spent 11 days undergoing treatment. She was on a ventilator and suffered broken ribs, an arm injury and damage to one lung from the gunshot wound.

District Attorney Jason Walsh praised the work of Gerstner, along with Chartiers Township police and state police, who investigated the case.

“We’re very pleased with the verdict,” Walsh said.

During his closing argument, Hildreth’s defense attorney, Joseph Pometto, said his client fired a single gunshot to protect herself as Mruk was hitting her while attempting to get back inside Hildreth’s parked SUV. He argued to the jury that her actions should fall under the state’s Castle Doctrine because she was in her vehicle during the shooting and could not retreat from danger.

“This case is backwards … and the defendant, Michaela Hildreth, acted in self-defense,” Pometto said.

He argued that Hildreth “feared” Mruk, whom he claimed had a “seething anger” against her estranged husband’s new girlfriend. Pometto argued that Mruk jumped on the SUV’s foot-rails along the driver’s side door and began assaulting Hildreth through the window of the vehicle. He said Mruk grabbed Hildreth’s hair and smashed her face against the steering wheel multiple times so hard that the vehicle’s horn could be heard honking.

Pometto claimed that Hildreth fired one gunshot when Mruk came back into the vehicle for another round of fighting. He added that investigators found blood splatter inside the vehicle, which he said indicated that Mruk was not several feet away as she and witnesses had told investigators.

“This does not happen without (Mruk’s) actions. We’re sitting here in judgment of Michaela Hildreth, but I want you to keep in mind what initiated this,” Pometto said. “This was an attack, and Michaela responded to the attack.”

Hildreth, who was the 2013 Jacktown Fair queen, spent three weeks in the Washington County jail after her arrest the night of the shooting, but later posted the $750,000 cash bond shortly after her preliminary hearing last August. After the verdict, sheriff’s deputies handcuffed Hildreth and took her to the Washington County jail to await sentencing.

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