SUNBURY - Hours after a jury was selected for the bribery trial of Shamokin landlord Barry Getchey, the defendant decided to enter a no-contest plea in the case this morning.
The 69-year-old Getchey turned down a guilty plea offer Friday morning from Assistant District Attorney Michael Seward and appeared adamant about taking the case to trial after telling Northumberland County Judge Charles Saylor that he was "not guilty of anything."
A trial was scheduled for Thursday morning before President Judge Robert B. Sacavage and a jury of seven women and five men was selected Monday. But Getchey, who was planning to represent himself because he couldn't afford to hire an attorney and was ineligible for a free public defender, changed his mind about seeking a trial late Monday afternoon.
When contacted Monday, Getchey said he entered a plea in the case because he didn't want to waste any more of the court personnel and jurors' time by having a trial. "With all the real crime in the county going on, I didn't want people getting bogged down on a bribery charge," he said.
He is now scheduled to enter a no-contest plea at 11:45 a.m. today to a misdemeanor of obstructing administration of the law in exchange for the withdrawal of the felony bribery offense.
By pleading no contest, Getchey is not admitting nor denying guilty, but acknowledges enough evidence could be presented at trial to convict him of both charges.
Getchey will most likely be assessed a fine by the court and avoid any jail time.
The defendant was charged by Trooper Kevin Kearney of state police at Stonington on April 16, 2012, with bribery and obstructing administration of the law in official and political matters. The charges relate to an incident on Nov. 16, 2011, in which Getchey allegedly offered $300 to Shamokin Housing Authority board chairman Raymond G. Splane if he would help the landlord get back federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) money withheld from him by the authority.
Getchey has maintained the money offered to Splane was not a bribe, but a thank-you gift if Splane agreed to help.
The Shamokin landlord has accused the authority of withholding more than $10,000 in federal rental assistance funds between November 2011 and January 2012. However, the authority claims Getchey violated his HUD contact by not having a functioning heating system in September and October 2011 and not remediating a mold problem and other safety issues in his North Sixth Street apartment building.
Getchey initially sought acceptance into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program in hopes of having the bribery charge expunged. But in October, he withdrew his application for the ARD program and decided to take the case to trial following a last-minute objection to his participation in the program by authority members.
