The manhunt to find McAdoo man Shawn Christy last summer lasted months. The trial to decide his fate may only last a week.
According to media reports, the jury sitting in on the Shawn Christy federal trial in Scranton could get the case as early as Monday.
Shawn Christy Trial – Day 4
WNEP-TV’s Elizabeth Worthington reports Christy expects to call himself to the stand on Monday. After that, the jury likely begins deliberations.
Christy stands accused of posting a death threat on Facebook against President Donald Trump and a local District Attorney. When law enforcement was notified of the post against Trump, Christy evaded them for months, staying ahead of a search team until they finally caught up with him in Ohio. The whole search was started because Christy failed to appear in local court over allegations he assaulted the mayor of McAdoo.
On Friday, in the fourth day of court activity after the jury was picked, the US government rested its case against Christy. That included presenting recorded phone calls Christy had with his father, Craig, while he was in custody in Ohio following the manhunt.
In those recorded calls, Christy essentially admits to committing the crimes he’s accused of in this federal trial. That includes stealing a truck from Dakota Meyer in Kentucky. Meyer is the ex-husband of Bristol Palin, daughter of the former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Meyer and Christy met for the first time in court on Friday. Following his testimony, Meyer said he feels “empathy” toward Christy and his family. Meyer says he’s had to hire private security to keep his family safe following threats Christy sent him on Facebook.
However, Craig Christy tells WBRE-TV’s Andy Mehalschick that his son and Meyer were Facebook “friends” and questions who threatened whom in this case. Meyer stands behind a post he put on Facebook in which he wished authorities had brought Christy out of the Ohio woods in a body bag.
Christy’s defense against these crimes, specifically the threat against Trump, is that the government can’t prove it’s him that posted the message to Facebook. He doesn’t seem to have an answer to the other crimes he committed while on the run, which included some thefts locally.
The defendant — representing himself in federal court — called his parents as his first two witnesses on Friday. Prosecutors earlier in the case alleged that Craig Christy was the one who first warned the government about the threat against Trump. And his father also provided help in locating Shawn Christy during the manhunt.
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