York County DA asks for 2nd time to appeal in case of ex-cop who shot handcuffed man
The York County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday asked permission for a second time from the Pennsylvania Superior Court to appeal a judge’s decision denying its request to drop the criminal case against a former Southwestern Regional police officer who shot a man in handcuffs.
In November, York County President Judge Maria Musti Cook again denied the DA’s motion to dismiss the case against Stu Harrison, who was a more than 15-year veteran of the Southwestern Regional Police Department.
Prosecutors asserted that there was insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt because an independent, third-party witness, Harry Harrington, died in 2019. But Cook described the DA’s legal reasoning as “lame” and noted that a high percentage of cases that go to trial do not have such witnesses.
In a petition for permission to appeal, First Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Steph Lombardo argued that Cook erred when she denied the request to drop the case and later modify her order.
"If this appeal is granted and Commonwealth is successful," Barker and Lombardo wrote in a footnote, "then the case will be terminated."
Related: York County DA cannot drop case against ex-cop who shot handcuffed man, judge again rules
York County District Attorney Dave Sunday first tried to drop the case in 2020, writing in a seven-page memo that continuing to pursue a conviction would constitute “punishment for punishment’s sake.”
Cook rejected that request. The Pennsylvania Superior Court denied the DA's request to appeal her ruling.
Harrison is charged with simple assault in the shooting of Ryan Smith, 36, of Jackson Township, which happened outside the Santander Bank on West Hanover Street in Spring Grove on May 30, 2018.
Smith demanded to withdraw $500,000 but did not have an account at the bank or a photo ID. He had been released from a psychiatric unit the previous day, his mother has said, and was confused.
The Pennsylvania State Police reported that Harrison told investigators that he meant to grab his TASER X26. But he instead pulled out his Glock 17 and shot Smith in the leg.
Smith later pleaded guilty to defiant trespass and disorderly conduct for a sentence of one year of probation. He and his mother, Christine, who witnessed the shooting, have opposed the efforts to end the prosecution.
Christine Smith said she does not feel like her family is getting justice, adding that it's been almost four years since the shooting.
"I'm not surprised with what the DA is doing," she said. "I'm disappointed, but not surprised."
Read: York County DA to again ask to drop case against ex-police officer who shot handcuffed man
Kyle King, a spokesperson for the York County District Attorney's Office, said it does not discuss pending litigation.
Harrison's attorneys, Ed Paskey and Chris Ferro, could not immediately be reached.
They also asked the Pennsylvania Superior Court for permission to appeal the ruling.
Also of interest: What happens to evidence, investigations and officers when a police department closes in York County?
The Southwestern Regional Police Department disbanded at the end of 2019. The Smiths filed an excessive force lawsuit in 2020 in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg.
Harrison, 59, of Bluffton, South Carolina, remains free on his own recognizance.
Dylan Segelbaum is the courthouse reporter at the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Contact him at dsegelbaum@ydr.com, by phone at 717-916-3981 or on Twitter @dylan_segelbaum.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Southwestern Regional Police Officer Stu Harrison: DA appeals again
