Follow-up on Paul Shelly

The Trib Live reports on the resolution of the Paul Shelly case.

"Eleven months after the fact."

That was former McKeesport councilman Paul Shelly's first reaction to seeing a court document indicating the state would not prosecute him on criminal charges filed last June after a McKeesport man accused Shelly of pulling a gun on him during an argument.

Shelly, 46, was to be tried on charges of terroristic threats and defiant trespass before Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph K. Williams III Wednesday but the trial didn't occur due to his accuser Edwin Batista, 48, of McKeesport, expressing a desire not to proceed with the case.

Since accusing Shelly of pulling the weapon on him in his dry cleaning shop which is now out of business in downtown McKeesport on June 13, Batista has had a number of brushes with the law and is in Allegheny County Jail awaiting trial in July on charges of terroristic threats and other charges stemming in part from threats he made against McKeesport police Assistant Chief Thomas Greene.

A man wrongly accused and seriously harmed in the process should be compensated, no? No gun was ever recovered? He spent three days in jail? What's behind all this? Is it just dirty Pennsylvania-style politics?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Charges Dropped Against Paul Shelly

wpxi.com reports on the good news for McKeesport Councilman Paul Shelly. When the story first broke, I jumped to the conclusion that Paul was just another of the many legitimate gun owners who had no business with a gun in the first place. Happily, I was wrong about him.

A McKeesport councilman had a preliminary hearing Monday morning and, though felony charges were dropped, he will go to trial after a June 13 incident.

Police said McKeesport City Councilman Paul Shelly went into a dry cleaning shop on Walnut Avenue, where he became upset when he was told he could not put a campaign sign up in the shop’s window.

Police said Shelly threatened the shop owner with a gun. However, when police later stopped Shelly while he was driving and arrested him, they found no gun in his car.

What it looks like then is the owner of the shop lied about Shelly's having had a gun and the councilman's political enemies used it, first of all, to lock him up like a common criminal and secondly, to try to ruin his mayoral aspirations.

What's your opinion? Was this a miscarriage of justice from the very beginning since the police found no gun on his person or in his car? Shouldn't the false accusation have been recognized for what it was?

Please leave a comment.