Jury chosen in BASD civil suit

Some potential jurors indicated they couldn’t be impartial in Blazier case

HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Blair County jury was seated Monday for a pending civil court trial in which attorneys will attempt to hold the Bellwood-Antis School District responsible for the sexual assault of a middle school student by his wrestling coach.

Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan, who presided over the jury selection where he and the attorneys asked prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and former coach Ryan Blazier, deemed the process to be complete about 3:30 p.m. with the seating of 12 jurors and four alternates.

The achievement capped off an effort that began in the morning for about 150 jurors, with about a third dismissed as the day progressed.

One of the first questions that ruled out some jurors was linked to the amount of time the case is expected to last. Some jurors advised that they were unavailable or couldn't set aside 10 days to be a juror for the trial, starting Oct. 12 and lasting through Oct. 25.

Other prospective jurors were dismissed after indicating that they had prior knowledge of Blazier's criminal court trial and didn't think they could be fair and impartial during the forthcoming trial.

Before jury selection started, Sullivan fielded a request from Bellwood-Antis' attorney Jaime Dougherty of Pittsburgh for an out-of-county jury. She criticized recent stories about the civil court case published in the Altoona Mirror and Tyrone Herald.

Sullivan, in response, declined to take immediate action.

"We have the jurors here," the judge said. "Hopefully we can select a jury."

Blazier, currently serving a state sentence of 21 to 42 years' incarceration for the related sexual assault convictions handed down in October 2021, was in court on Monday for jury selection. He was escorted to and from the Courthouse by sheriff deputies and is expected to return for trial, where he is representing himself.

Both Blazier and the school district are listed as defendants in the forthcoming civil court case, so depending on the jury's verdict regarding liability, it could assign damages to be paid by Blazier, the school district or both.

Court records also indicate attempts to negotiate an out-of-court settlement -- involving attorneys Brian S. Neiderheiser and Bradly Holuta of Indiana, on behalf of the sexual assault victim, and attorneys Dougherty and Lisa Siefert, on behalf of the school district -- have failed. The records describe the two parties as being too far apart.

The sexual assault victim, now 18 years old, also attended Monday's jury selection and sat with his attorneys. The victim, as well as Blazier, were named among the likely witnesses in the forthcoming trial. Others include a state police investigator who testified at the criminal trial, school district employees and witnesses who will address the sexual assault victim's prior and future medical bills.

Also in preparation for trial, Sullivan recently ruled that the former student wrestler can be referred to as a sexual assault victim but not as a rape victim. The judge, in his decision, pointed out that Blazier wasn't convicted of rape, but he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault with a victim under 16 and institutional sexual assault.

Blazier, who is appealing his criminal court convictions to the state Superior Court, has filed handwritten documents in the civil court case indicating he should have no liability because the alleged incidents "never occurred."

Sullivan, while meeting with Blazier and attorneys prior to the jury selection process starting, told Blazier that he could not present questions contesting the sexual assault. Sullivan said that will apply at trial too, where Blazier is barred from cross-examining the sexual assault victim with liability questions.

"You were convicted," Sullivan said. "So as far as this court is concerned, your liability has been established."

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.