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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County judge is allowing aggravated assault and related charges to stand in a criminal case where the victim maintains that she was assaulted by someone other than the man now accused.
In a recent opinion, Judge Timothy M. Sullivan reported reviewing police video evidence, a recording of the preliminary hearing and testimony from a December court hearing where Matthew A. Sales, 32, Philadelphia, claimed that the wrong man was arrested.
"It will be left to the trier of fact to ultimately determine whether the commonwealth can meet its burden of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Sullivan acknowledged in his order.
As for evidence offered in support of the charges, Sullivan said he was satisfied "that a crime was committed and that (Sales) is probably the perpetrator."
Sales, in a letter filed with the court and in contact with the Altoona Mirror, maintains that he is wrongly accused and in jail for being a Black man.
Based on Sullivan's ruling, Sales remains charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault, misdemeanor counts of simple assault and false identification to a law enforcement officer and a summary count of harassment. He has been in Blair County Prison since Oct. 12, unable to post $75,000 cash bail.
Altoona police charged Sales based on information collected while investigating a domestic assault on Oct. 11 on the 2700 block of Fairway Drive.
Police described the assault victim as having a large amount of blood coming from her mouth, and dislodged teeth. She allegedly told police that she had been inside a vehicle, attempting to call 911, when her assailant reached in and smacked her face with a metal object that she believed may have been a gun.
Upon checking the vehicle's ownership, police learned that the vehicle was registered to the victim and to Sales. When asked if Sales assaulted her, police indicated that the woman said yes. But in a December court hearing, she named another person as her assailant.
Sullivan said his review of the evidence indicates that the woman initially named Sales. While she later named another person as her assailant, the judge observed that police were unable to find that person by name, phone number, location or a birthdate the woman provided.
Sullivan's ruling also recognized that in hours after the woman's assault, a Logan Township police officer found Sales while looking into a report of a Black male walking in the area behind the township police station, where the cruisers are parked.
In his letter to the court, Sales raised the question: "Since when was it a crime to be Black walking past cruisers?"
Sullivan's ruling specifies that Sales, when stopped near the cruisers, twice provided a false name. The officer who stopped him was able to correctly identify Sales, the judge noted in his opinion, through the use of a computerized photo database and the name of Matthew Sales, based on the name of the vehicle owner where the domestic assault reportedly occurred.
Sales, represented by Assistant Public Defender John Siford, is scheduled Monday to ask Sullivan to modify the $75,000 cash bail that Sales reports being unable to afford.
Sales made a similar request in November before Judge Wade Kagarise, who made no bail changes after his review of the pending charges.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.