You have to read this to believe it…
WEST CHESTER – A rare display of public anxiety over open displays of firearms derailed the start of a criminal trial in Common Pleas Court Wednesday.
The case involves James Evan Ferry, who faces charges in connection with a commotion at the ACAC health club in West Goshen just days after the school shootings in Newton, Conn.
Judge William P. Mahon was forced to dismiss a panel of prospective jurors in the case during the jury selection process after an overwhelming number of people said they could not consider the evidence against him fairly, due to his medical condition and his possession of a holstered handgun during the incident.
Ferry, a U.S. Special Forces veteran, suffered a traumatic brain injury while in the service. Although he had a permit to carry the weapon police found on him at the time, more than two-dozen of the panel said their feelings about the matter would prohibit them from judging the case on the merits alone.
“I’m going to have to dismiss you,” the judge told the members.
One of the prospective jurors, who said he was a former law enforcement officer, stood and said he had such strong feelings about the presence of firearms in public that he felt he could not do his job as a juror in the case, even though he knew it is legal to carry openly displayed guns.
Mahon told the attorneys, Assistant District Attorney Anthony F. Rock and defense attorney Joel Benecke of West Chester, that he would continue the case until early April.
Ferry, 26, of Philadelphia, remains free on bail. Mahon noted that he had never witnessed anything like the display of opinion among prospective jurors in his years on the bench.
Interestingly, Ferry – dressed in the courtroom in a conservative dark gray suit and sporting an American flag lapel pin – is not charged with any weapons violation, and did not draw the handgun he was carrying from its holster, or even make mention of it, when he went to the ACAC Fitness Center on McDermott Drive around 4 p.m. on Dec. 28, 2012.
The most serious charge he faces is a felony count of interception of wire, electronic or oral communications, stemming from his recording of a conversation with the club manager without her knowledge. The other counts of disorderly conduct, harassment and terroristic threats are all misdemeanors.
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The witness will testify Ferry suffers from short-term memory loss and uses the digital recorder to keep track of things. The recorder, which he carries constantly, had turned on inadvertently during the conversation with Riley, he said.
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Frankly, I’m surprised Pennsylvania allows open carry, I’m also surprised so many jurors held such anti-gun views. The judge did the right thing, people like that have no business judging a veteran.