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A decision by a Cambria County Judge to suppress an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9 mm pistol -- both loaded -- found during a motor vehicle stop in August 2021 has been overturned by a three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court.
Three Johnstown-area men -- Aaron Findley, 25, Romeo Trexler, 21, and Trevonn Hancock, 24 -- were arrested after their silver Jeep was pulled over for traveling in East Conemaugh Borough with its headlights off.
The arresting officer, Dalton K. Geisel of the East Conemaugh Police Department, believed the driver of the vehicle, Findley, was under the influence, and he asked the trio to step outside the vehicle.
The officer placed the men in handcuffs and asked them to sit on the curb.
Geisel noted that while Findley was able to produce a driver's license, he was not in possession of the registration and insurance information.
The vehicle was actually owned by Trexler's mother, Jacqueline Trexler, who arrived at the scene with the needed registration and insurance cards.
At that point, a detective from East Conemaugh, Paul Deffenbaugh, arrived to assist Geisel, and he noticed the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.
Geisel asked Jacqueline Trexler if he could search the Jeep.
She gave him permission, and during the search the officer found the loaded weapons.
Each of the three men was charged with two counts of persons not to possess firearms and two counts of carrying a firearm without a license.
In addition, Hancock was charged with one count of tampering with evidence, and Findley was charged with three counts of drug-related driving under the influence offenses.
The defendants, during a pretrial hearing in September 2022, moved to suppress the evidence police found during the vehicle search, arguing that the three men were illegally taken into custody during the traffic stop (being handcuffed and made to sit along the curb). The defendants contended that any evidence, including the two guns, following the arrest was, in legal terms "fruit of the poisonous tree," and could not be used against them during trial.
Judge Patrick T. Kiniry ruled for the defense.
The Superior Court explained Kiniry found the men were subjected to an illegal arrest that, at the time, was not supported by probable cause.
Even if Geisel was suspicious that Findley was driving under the influence, Trexler and Hancock had done nothing to indicate they were involved in criminal activity, according to the Cambria judge.
Placing the defendants in cuffs without probable cause "was not justified with regard to any of the defendants," according to Kiniry.
But, the judge went a step further, noting because the defendants were illegally detained, the search of the vehicle was also illegal.
The Superior Court panel that included John T. Bender, Victor P. Stabile and Dan Pellegrini, concluded the owner of the vehicle, Jacqueline Trexler had appropriately given the officers the right to search her vehicle.
Geisel asked Trexler, "Do you mind if I search your vehicle?"
She gave her permission, pointing out that "nothing in there is mine."
The Superior Court, in its 24-page opinion, explained the mother was not in custody, and she gave her consent after it was explained to her by Geisel that she would not be held responsible for anything uncovered from inside the vehicle.
"Based on the totality of these circumstances, we conclude that Ms. Trexler freely and voluntarily consented to the search of the vehicle and her consent was sufficiently independent of the defendants' illegal arrests to remove any associated taint from the evidence."
The case was remanded back to Cambria County for trial.
The defense attorneys have 30 days to request review of the decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Findley is represented by Johnstown attorney Toby Mcllwain. Romeo Trexler's lawyer is Michael A. Sylvester of Ebensburg, and Hancock is represented by attorney David L. Beyer.