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Jury Acquits Man Of Robbing Drug Informant

The Patriot News
Monday October 17, 2005

By Theodore Decker
of The Patriot News

“Is that enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt?” McShane asked. “We had a very, very intellectual jury who was able to reason through the evidence.”

A Dauphin County jury acquitted a Harrisburg man of robbing a drug informant during a large marijuana buy in the city last year.

Johnny L. Straining, 31, of the 400 block of South 13th Street, was identified by a state trooper in the trial before Dauphin County Judge Scott A. Evans, but the jury still cleared Straining of robbery and conspiracy charges. Their verdict came at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday after two hours of deliberations.

Straining and two co-defendants — Mary G. Davis, 25, and Amahl J. Scott, 28 — were charged in the Aug. 9, 2004, robbery of a police informant in an uptown residence.

Police said Davis arranged for the informant to buy five pounds of marijuana for about $4,000 and met him at the house in the 500 block of Camp Street.

Straining and Scott were accused of robbing the informant once he went inside.

Davis also was acquitted of the robbery, but she was convicted on drug and theft charges relating to the Aug. 9 incident and a prior drug sale she arranged, Dauphin County Deputy District Attorney Stephen R. Zawisky said.

Scott had been due to stand trial in Dauphin County Court this week but decided to plead guilty at the last minute.

The acquittals on the robbery charges came after the informant’s story was picked apart by Straining’s lawyer, Justin J. McShane, and Davis’ lawyer, Allen C. Welch.

Testimony showed that Straining had a beard at the time of the robbery and has noticeable tattoos. His appearance was different from the description provided by the informant, who testified that he was so scared during the robbery that he soiled his pants.

McShane said he argued to jurors that the trooper who identified Straining as one of two men seen fleeing the home simply was mistaken.

The trooper saw them only for an instant, McShane said.

“Is that enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt?” McShane asked. “We had a very, very intellectual jury who was able to reason through the evidence.”

Zawisky said he was stunned by the not-guilty verdict, saying he thought a positive identification by a trained law enforcement officer was more than enough to convict.

“I was floored,” he said. “I guess you never know what’s going to happen. I think everyone in that courtroom was completely surprised, except for the 12 jurors. I couldn’t sleep last night,” he said.

Straining, who has two prior felony drug convictions, never confessed to the crime. Scott did confess, telling the police that he and Straining were responsible.

But Straining’s criminal record and Scott’s confession weren’t admissible in Straining’s trial, and the jury never heard about either.

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