SUNBURY - A motion to suppress DNA evidence in the armed robbery case against Erik Jamel Harrington was denied Tuesday by Northumberland County President Judge Robert B. Sacavage.
The squashed motion, made by Harrington's attorney, Peter Campana, of Williamsport, said evidence found at the scene of the July 16, 2005, crime should not be allowed because the forensic examiner, Pennsylvania State Police forensics scientist Jeff Sachetti, had a predisposed notion that DNA found at the scene matched Harrington's.
The determination was made, Campana said, because of results from a previous sample that was improperly obtained, according to a October 2012 court ruling.
"The court previously granted a motion to suppress," Sacavage wrote in his ruling. "That suppression motion was granted due solely to a procedural defect in the warrant," and shouldn't apply to the new sample.
DNA tests
Campana's concern about the evidence dates to 2009, when Harrington, 23, of Selinsgrove, was arrested for another felony, and had to submit a DNA sample via mouth swab. Harrington's DNA was then compared to that of a soda bottle found at the robbery scene.
Following testing, Sachetti reported he couldn't exclude Harrington from the scene of the robbery. On April 30, 2009, a search warrant was issued by Northumberland County Judge William Wiest for Harrington to submit a blood sample.
That sample was compared to the DNA found at the scene and allegedly was a match for Harrington, according to Sachetti.
A 2012 ruling threw out the DNA evidence because the search warrant was improperly filled out. The investigating officer, Trooper Ronald Zanella, of the Stonington barracks, then got another search warrant, this time from a magisterial district judge, for another swab from Harrington.
The sample was received and sent to Sachetti, who reported the DNA at the robbery scene matched Harrington's.
Invalid argument
"It's hard to believe that in the first DNA swab taken, no definitive match could be made, but on the second swab, Sachetti is sure that Harrington is a match," Campana argued in court Monday, calling it "fruit from the poisonous tree."
Sacavage did not find any validity in the defense attorney's argument.
"The prior ruling did not foreclose the commonwealth from obtaining a valid warrant, based on probable cause," Sacavage wrote. "The 'fruit of the poisonous tree' argument is unconvincing, given the circumstances of a new valid warrant based on probable cause."
Any argument on Sachetti's results can be done at Harrington's trial, scheduled to start Aug. 1. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday.
"The questions raised in the motion are more properly questions of credibility of the witness, which are the province of the jury if and when the witness testifies," the judge wrote.
One of four suspects
Harrington was one of four suspects in the July 2005 armed robbery at the residence of 55-year-old James Honecker, of Paxinos, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair.
Harrington, Kasey A. Sees, 26, formerly of Sunbury, and two other assailants are accused of entering Honecker's home at 1:30 a.m. and holding him at gunpoint in his living room while threatening to kill him.
Police said the robbers demanded money, ransacked the home and removed 12 rifles and shotguns, knives, ammunition, cash, jewelry, an amplifier and prescription narcotics with a total value of $5,590. Police said the robbers also caused approximately $300 in damage by pulling telephone cords from the wall and damaging two televisions.
Sees was charged by state police at Stonington on Aug. 15, 2006, and eventually pleaded guilty to felony charges of burglary and robbery. He was sentenced to 3 1/3 to 6 2/3 years in state prison and ordered to pay $300 in fines plus costs, make $4,000 restitution to Honecker and pay approximately $8,800 in restitution to Honecker's insurance company.
Sees has since completed his state prison sentence and is free, and Honecker said he's received a few hundred dollars in restitution.
A criminal complaint was filed against Harrington on March 4, 2010, but the defendant reportedly fled to North Carolina, where authorities said he has relatives. He was taken into custody April 29, 2011, by authorities in North Carolina and was arraigned May 17, 2011, by Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III on felony offenses of robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, theft, criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, criminal conspiracy to commit burglary, aiding the consummation of a crime and simple assault.
After his extradition to Pennsylvania, he was incarcerated in prisons in Snyder and Northumberland counties. But his bail was reduced by Wiest from $100,000 cash to $50,000 cash at a hearing May 24, 2012. The commonwealth opposed the reduction, but it was still granted, and Harrington was able to hire a bondsman to post the bail. He was released from Northumberland County Prison on Oct. 9.