Accused drug, sex trafficker protests justice delays
Dargan has been in Blair County Prison awaiting trial since January 2022
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- The attorney for an Altoona man accused of trafficking drugs and women in 2020 and 2021 wants his criminal charges dismissed because of the amount of time that has passed while waiting for his case to go to trial.
Online court records show Donald "The Rev" Dargan, 62, has been in the Blair County Prison since Jan. 3, 2022, when he turned himself in to answer charges filed by Altoona police.
That means Dargan has been incarcerated for three years, five months and 25 days, defense attorney Christopher Jancula told President Judge Wade A. Kagarise, who convened a court hearing Friday to review the sixth omnibus pretrial motion filed on Dargan's behalf.
"There should be a hearing scheduled on why this case hasn't gone to trial," Jancula said after speaking of several time periods that passed without action in his client's case, through no fault of his client.
Dargan, one of five men accused of forcing drug-addicted women to engage in prostitution for drugs, is charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, involuntary servitude, trafficking individuals, corrupt organization and possession with intent to deliver. He's also charged with drug delivery resulting in the death of 38-year-old Colleen Buck, found dead on Jan. 22, 2021, at Dargan's Altoona apartment on the 800 block of Sixth Avenue.
The case is scheduled for jury selection on July 21.
In court Friday, Jancula acknowledged periods when
Dargan's case was on hold because of pre-trial motions filed on Dargan's behalf.
But the defense attorney argued that those periods be excluded and Dargan's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial is still violated.
Under the Sixth Amendment, a trial in a criminal case must commence within 365 days of a criminal complaint being filed. But that time frame is regularly affected by pre-trial motions, requests and waivers.
In response to Jancula's arguments, District Attorney Pete Weeks presented Kagarise with a lengthy review of docketed entries related to Dargan's case since the filing of a criminal complaint on Dec. 30, 2021.
"There's been no lack of due diligence from the Commonwealth at all," Weeks said.
Kagarise, who has handled Dargan's case since it was filed, acknowledged his familiarity with the criminal case. He also spoke of having reviewed the record while addressing prior pre-trial motions.
"I really don't see any lack of due diligence by the Commonwealth," Kagarise said.
Jancula, within the sixth pre-trial motion and in court on Friday, disagreed.
"The Commonwealth has not exercised due diligence to prioritize the case for jury selection and trial," he wrote in the motion.
As an example, Jancula pointed out that his client's human trafficking charges were slated for jury selection on March 25. But on March 21, Jancula said, the Commonwealth disclosed a recorded phone call with one of its witnesses who told somebody that he made up his testimony.
Weeks said that case could have still gone to trial and Jancula could have used the information to impeach the witness. Instead, a jury was selected to hear Dargan's felony charge of illegal possession of a firearm. He was convicted and a sentencing hearing is scheduled in September.
In response to Jancula's request for another review of the delays that he outlined in the case, Kagarise agreed to do that and acknowledged that he may have been a contributor.
The judge referenced times when he spoke of trying to find a date on his calendar for the next event and difficulty in accomplishing that. In the last three years, the county's five-member judicial bench has operated one or two judges short.
"I know there's been times when I said I will get to it as soon as I can," Kagarise said.
As Friday's proceeding started to close, Dargan started to raise evidentiary issues and spoke of wanting to represent himself since Jancula hadn't raised those matters.
Kagarise told Dargan that evidentiary issues can be raised during trial. When Dargan spoke of representing himself at trial and relying on Jancula as standby counsel, the judge told Dargan that he has a right to represent himself, but no right to standby counsel.
"If you want to represent yourself, you put it in writing," Kagarise said.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.