Mahoney's Rabidly Poor Judgment

Posted: Thursday, November 1, 2018 by Pezzonovante in Labels:
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One day prior to the Masontown shooting incident, on 09/18/2018, the preliminary hearing for Edward Harris scheduled before Magisterial District Judge Daniel C. Shimshock was continued for the seventh time.  A preliminary hearing is now scheduled for 11/19/2018 before Magisterial District Judge Nathan A. Henning.


See:  Docket Number = MJ-14302-CR-0000344-2017

Harris is charged with 23 felony counts of owning/possessing animal for fighting, 23 misdemeanor counts of possession of animal fighting paraphernalia, and 23 summary counts of cruelty to animals.

In June 2007, Harris was apprehended after fleeing police and leading them on a high-speed chase after shooting at two people in a vehicle with a .45-caliber Glock in Uniontown's East End (while being a convicted felon in illegal possession of a firearm). 

See:  Fayette man indicted on firearm charges February 26, 2008 (As confirmed by highbeam.com, the date for the article is wrong on the triblive.com link.  This error probably stems from the changeover from the pittsburghlive.com to the triblive.com domain.)

Infamously, Harris gained even more notoriety when then-State Rep. Timothy S. Mahoney testified for him as a defendant witness seeking his release on 02/28/2008.

Mahoney carried with him to federal court letters of support written on official letterhead by Uniontown Mayor Edward R. Fike, then-Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky, and South Union Township Supervisor Robert Shiffbauer.

See the letters here.





See also:  Fayette officials defend support for felon facing new charge Saturday, July 19, 2008, with its most powerful excerpt.

U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond last month denied bail for Harris, ruling that there was "no condition or combination of conditions that will assure the safety of others or the community" if he were released.


See also:  What WereThey Thinking? Saturday, July 26, 2008


In this excellent report by Tribune-Review reporter Liz Zemba -- see: Pleas for leniency don't help Uniontown man in weapon case Friday, March 19, 2010 -- we learn in the sentencing hearing that Harris' defense attorney compared Harris to George Bailey -- actor Jimmy Stewart's beloved character in Frank Capra's 1946 Christmas classic "It's A Wonderful Life."


However, what Zemba's story did not include was a link to the sentencing memorandum where Harris' defense attorney made this claim.  Appended to the sentencing memorandum was a host of character witness letters.  In addition to the aforementioned letters written by public officials on official letterhead, there were letters written by clergy, heart-rending letters written by Harris' daughters, and letters written by a coterie of Mahoney-affiliated individuals.

Thus, in the warped worldview of Mahoney's "proven leadership," Edward Harris equals George Bailey.


For those of us with a more realistic worldview, more recently, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Edward Harris was indicted by a grand jury on federal firearms charges on March 29, 2017.


"Edward Harris, age 58, a resident of Uniontown, Pennsylvania was indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 29, 2017, and charged with possessing:
·         an UZI submachine gun with a partially obliterated serial number;
·         a magazine with thirty-one (31) Winchester 9mm cartridges;
·         fifty (50) PMC 9mm caliber full metal jacket ammunition;
·         forty-four (44) .38 caliber ammunition and
·         thirty-two (32) Winchester 9mm cartridges.

Chief Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab arraigned Harris on April 4, 2017, and determined he should be detained pending trial. The Honorable John E. Jones, III will preside over Harris’ case, and he has scheduled jury selection and trial for June 5, 2017."

The updated criminal docket sheet for USA v. Harris shows multiple continuances.  Absent a plea agreement, trial will commence with jury selection on 01/08/2019 with the Honorable United States District Judge John E. Jones, III presiding.

In light of the local dog fighting and federal firearms charges Edward Harris now faces, Mahoney's "proven leadership" of using the power of his office back in 2008 to do a favor for his childhood friend and former employee (who, Mahoney assured the community, had turned over a new leaf) has been revealed to be nothing more than rabidly poor judgment and an endangerment to the community.

In a Thursday, November 1, 2018 paid political ad in interview format on WMBS, Mahoney was asked by interviewer Phil Michael whether he was ashamed of his support for Harris and whether he would do it again.

Mahoney replied that he was not ashamed of anything he had done while in office, that he would do it again, and that he could not be held responsible if a person he helped re-offended.  

Left unsaid by Mahoney was that he bears tremendous responsibility because he used the power of his political office and the political offices of others to support the release and leniency in sentencing of a violent, convicted drug dealer illegally in possession of a firearm who shot at two people with a .45-caliber Glock in Uniontown's East End, who is currently up on local animal-fighting charges, and who has re-offended and has been indicted by federal authorities in the Department of Justice's "Operation Gun Grabber" for being in illegal possession of ammunition and an UZI submachine gun with a partially obliterated serial number.

Electors beware!  


On November 6, Mahoney's rabidly poor judgment could come back to bite you.





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