Acquitted of killing St. Clair cop in 2015, Ray Shetler found guilty of assault in case involving deputy sheriff
Oct. 6—A New Florence man acquitted in the 2015 killing of a police officer was found guilty of assaulting a deputy sheriff during a violent confrontation with law enforcement officials who attempted to serve an arrest warrant nearly two years ago.
Following two days of testimony and more than three hours of deliberations, a jury convicted Ray A. Shetler Jr., 39, on Friday.
Shetler was found guilty of aggravated assault, attempted disarming of a law enforcement official and resisting arrest for fighting with police as they attempted to take him into custody on an outstanding warrant on Dec. 7, 2021. He was acquitted of one charge of aggravated assault for causing serious bodily injury to an officer.
Shetler fought with sheriff's deputies and state police officers who stormed into a New Florence mobile home where he had been hiding out to avoid a bench warrant. He was wanted for failing to appear in court for a hearing on a probation violation, prosecutors said.
Deputy Sheriff Irvin Shipley suffered injuries, including a concussion and a torn rotator cuff, prosecutors said.
"Justice was served today, and a dangerous man was taken off the streets," Shipley said following the verdict.
Shetler was shot by a Taser and blinded in the left eye during the melee. He also maintained he was severely beaten as retribution for being found not guilty of killing St. Clair Township police officer Lloyd Reed following a trial in 2018.
Reed was responding to a domestic violence call when he was killed during a shootout with Shetler. Shetler claimed he acted in self-defense and didn't realize Reed was a police officer.
Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro said the case involving Reed was a separate matter and Friday's verdict was based on evidence related to the events two years ago when Shetler was taken into custody.
"This was a dangerous situation. The defendant put the lives of our law enforcement officials at risk," Ciaramitaro said. "This case was no more important than any other case our office has prosecuted."
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio will sentence Shetler in about three months. Ciaramitaro said Shetler faces up to 19 years in prison as a result of his new convictions.
He also faces a potential new sentence if he is found to have violated terms of his probation stemming from the 2018 conviction for theft of a vehicle that police said he attempted to abscond with as he fled from authorities following Reed's killing.
Defense attorneys declined comment on Friday's jury verdict.
Assistant Public Defender Mike Garofalo argued to jurors that police officers were the aggressors when they violently beat Shetler in the bedroom of a mobile home where he was hiding to avoid capture. He suggested police officers were untruthful when they testified Shetler initiated the violence and forcibly attempted to resist arrest.
Shetler testified he was beaten by multiple officers, including one who repeatedly hit him in the head with a flash light and another he claimed put a Taser up to head and fired the weapon claiming revenge for Reed.
"Is it it even reasonable to believe the police version of this event over the guy who was blinded in his left eye," Garofalo said. "What I am saying is this got a little out of hand and it turned into a pound of flesh. It turned into an eye for an eye, quite literally."
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich by email at rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
