A case that embroiled Schuylkill County’s district attorney in controversy ended Wednesday in prison time and probation for a Barnesville man after he pleaded guilty to assaulting and endangering a woman in September 2015 in Mahanoy City.
Jed W. Dubuc, 24, pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and unlawful possession of a weapon. Prosecutors withdrew four counts of aggravated assault, two of terroristic threats, one each of resisting arrest and possession of drug paraphernalia, four additional counts of simple assault and one additional count of recklessly endangering another person.
Judge John E. Domalakes accepted the plea and, pursuant to an agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, sentenced Dubuc to serve six to 23 months in prison and an additional three years probation and pay costs and $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account. Domalakes made the sentence effective at 9 a.m. May 9.
Mahanoy City police charged Dubuc with carrying a loaded 9 mm Ruger handgun on Sept. 1, 2015, at 1326 E. Centre St. when he grabbed Dana Hannon by the throat, started choking her, threw her against closet doors and held the gun to her head.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Dubuc said little except that he understood the nature and consequences of his plea and was making it knowingly and voluntarily.
Dubuc’s case became a hot topic locally when Judge James P. Goodman returned him to prison on Oct. 16, 2015, ruling prosecutors had misled him when he decided to lower the defendant’s bail to $50,000 percentage from $75,000 straight cash.
“There was a mistake, and that mistake led to a misrepresentation to this court,” Goodman said of the statement that the victim and police had agreed to the reduction, which he rescinded at the end of the Oct. 16 hearing.
Both Mahanoy City police Patrolman Thomas J. Rentschler, the prosecuting officer, and Hannon testified that no one had contacted them concerning whether they would agree to the bail reduction.
Goodman criticized District Attorney Christine A. Holman, whom he said had directed Deputy, now First, Assistant District Attorney John T. Fegley to tell the court that Rentschler and Hannon agreed to the reduction. Holman, a distant relative of Dubuc, said she thought they should agree to it, although she acknowledged she did not contact either one.
After that, Holman, who admitted she made a mistake in the matter, turned over the case to the state attorney general’s office.