Shawn Christy led federal authorities on a wild goose chase last year. His Facebook timeline reads like the internet rabbit holes you go down when you’re bored.
He’s been known for outbursts in court but over the last week, his federal trial for threatening President Donald Trump on social media seems rather tame.
According to the news media covering the trial from the beginning (WNEP and WBRE, specifically), as the trial entered closing arguments, it started going off the rails.
Jury will begin deliberations tomorrow morning in the Federal trial of Shawn Christy from McAdoo. Tensions escalated today between Deputy U.S Atty Fran Sempa and Christy. Check it out on https://t.co/DgMV2OFWhb & Eyewitness News. @wbrewyou pic.twitter.com/KCEsmSYsfD
— Andy Mehalshick (@AndyMehalshick) November 26, 2019
Shawn Christy Trial – Closing Arguments
Christy’s outbursts (he called a prosecutor a “fucking punk”) escalated when he got argumentative Monday.
Here’s a gem from the trial, captured by WNEP reporter Elizabeth Worthington:
(Image: WNEP-TV)
He wasn’t done:
(Image: WNEP.com)
So, up until this point, Christy had pretty much behaved himself. And by all accounts, him representing himself in court didn’t go the way it normally does.
Also, his defense honestly sounds decent … at least on the Facebook account being hacked. At least it’s possible, right?
But that’s all probably lost on the court now. Because on his final day in court before the jury got the case, he calls the prosecutor an “f-ing punk”, tells the judge he’s presiding over a kangaroo court, and questions the toughness of US Marshals, calling them a bunch of punk-asses.
At one point during the trial, the judge was forced to instruct the jury to disregard testimony Christy gave earlier when he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. So, as the jury got the case Monday, they aren’t allowed to consider Christy’s direct testimony.
This is a live look at Christy’s case as the jury deliberates it when they get to court on Tuesday morning:
His defense still centers on someone other than him using his Facebook account to threaten Trump … maybe. He does not, however, have a defense for the manhunt he coerced by running after failing to show up for a court hearing in Schuylkill County in 2018.
During that manhunt, Christy’s accused of stealing, among other things, vehicles and food.
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