Saturday, January 8, 2011

Facts The Morning Call "newspaper" refused to cover: Martin's Tricky Secret Switcheroos


Criminal Docket: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Robert Edward LaBarre

At 3:15am on March 24, 2006, just hours after celebrating her 25th birthday, Sheena Villa's skull was crushed ...

and she was rendered brain dead, when Robert LaBarre's out-of-control Lexus GX470 smashed, airborne, into a tree on Parkway Boulevard in Allentown at a speed determined by the police crash reconstruction to have been a minimum of 85 miles per hour on a 35MPH-zoned residential street. Sheena was the front seat passenger. My first-born and only daughter, Sheena Marie Amelia Villa was pronounced dead later that day.

It took DA Jim Martin 10 long weeks to charge Robert LaBarre with any crime, and it's not like there was a cast of a dozen suspects; LaBarre had to be cut out of his crushed vehicle's driver's seat. His blood alcohol content was .24, three times the legal limit. As Sheena's family agonized over the seemingly endless wait, worrying, and wondering if any criminal charges would ever be filed, or not, DA Jim Martin told us nothing and went on a 2-week golfing vacation in Scotland.

Right before the 2006 Memorial Day Holiday, as a favor to my father who was his second cousin, former Lehigh County Commissioner, the late Jack McHugh, phoned DA Jim Martin on our behalf, inquiring, delicately, about Robert LaBarre's projected arrest date, if any. DA Jim Martin's response: "Jack, how did you get mixed up with people named Vee-lah?" Jack McHugh then informed his fellow Irishman DA Jim Martin that the family of Sheena Villa was half-Irish on her father's paternal and maternal sides ("Dougherty," "Morrissey") and that DA Martin likely remembered Sheena Villa's now deceased great-great uncle, prominent local Italian-American attorney, Henry Villa (pronounced VILL-ah).

Less than 48 hours later on June 1, 2006, Robert LaBarre was charged with Vehicular Homicide While Driving Under The Influence and related charges (see CBS-TV Philadelphia coverage). Apparently, being even half-Irish can be very helpful in Lehigh County. But as we'd soon find out, being the son of a connected local attorney trumps being half-Irish.

In August 2006, homicide defendant Robert LaBarre was somehow able to leave the United States and enjoy a 10-day vacation in Belize Central America while out on bail for killing my daughter Sheena. Robert LaBarre's father is Allentown attorney Don LaBarre from the law firm of Gross McGinley (formerly Gross McGinley LaBarre & Eaton). One of Gross McGinley's longtime clients is The Morning Call "newspaper." Many attorneys from Gross McGinley contribute frequently and generously to the Committee to Reelect DA Jim Martin. [Source: Lehigh County Voter Registration Campaign Contribution Records] The Morning Call "newspaper" has refused to disclose and report on any of this.

On November 2, 2006, a trial date was set for February 12, 2007.

By January 2007, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Robert L. Steinberg had both received hundreds of letters, in an election year for both of them, about Sheena Villa. The overall tone of these hundreds of letters from friends of Sheena and her family went like this: "We're watching you, so don't even think about trying to fix this case. Do not plea bargain away any of the charges against Sheena's remorseless killer. Give Robert LaBarre the maximum sentence possible. And give Sheena Villa and her family justice."

In mid-January 2007, Sheena's family was anxiously awaiting the trial that was scheduled to start on February 12, 2007. We received no information whatsoever from DA Jim Martin's office regarding what we could expect to see and hear at the trial of our daughter Sheena's killer. For example, would we be exposed to Sheena's autopsy photos? We didn't want to be. DA Jim Martin's office told us nothing.

DA Jim Martin's Tricky & Secret Switcheroos

During the week of January 22-26, 2007, I received a second anonymous phone call. I'm assuming it was from the same female who had called me anonymously in August 2006 tipping me off about Robert LaBarre's AWOL Belize Vacation. Here's what the woman told me during her second anonymous phone call ...

"There won't be a trial starting on February 12th. Robert LaBarre will be pleading guilty on February 2nd."

Still naively clinging to the hope and trust that we would get a fair shake from The Morning Call "newspaper," I immediately called Morning Call "reporter" Manny Gamiz. With me on the line, Manny checked this Lehigh County website, and sure enough, Manny Gamiz was able to determine and confirm for me that the court date, and the court procedure switch, had been made by DA Jim Martin's office on January 17, 2007, nearly 10 days prior. Sheena's family had received no information whatsoever from DA Jim Martin's office regarding this major change in courtroom procedure, and its new date, which had been moved up 10 days, from FEB 12 to FEB 2.

When February 2nd arrived, and dozens of Sheena's friends and family members arrived in Judge Steinberg's courtroom for Robert LaBarre's suddenly not so secret guilty plea hearing, assistant DA Richard Director was visibly taken by surprise. With the "Sheena Squad" there watching, none of the major charges against Robert LaBarre were able to be trickily taken off the table. LaBarre likely pled guilty to more charges than they had planned for him to plead guilty to that day. And having done that, LaBarre was then finally taken away in handcuffs to Lehigh County jail to await sentencing to a Pennsylvania State Penitentiary on April 17, 2007.

Good thing we were there on FEB 2, 2007. Because if we hadn't been, I'm positive Sheena's family would have been victimized all over again by DA Jim Martin.

You see, when the victim's family isn't in attendance for their perpetrator's guilty plea hearing (and DA Jim Martin seems to prefer it this way, hence the secrecy about its date), the DA's office can tell the presiding Judge anything it wants. For example, they could say, "We're dropping 9 of the 14 charges, including the major charge, Your Honor." And the Judge will then dutifully and robotically ask, "Is the victim's family in agreement with this plea deal? And DA Jim Martin's office will then say, "Yup." And it's not the Judge's job to determine if the DA's office is lying ... like they were during this guilty plea hearing in September 2007 when the victim's family was not present and was not in agreement with this plea deal and I know that because they told me they weren't in agreement. They were so pissed off afterwards, they wrote about it at Morning Call.com (see comment #22). 

Bottom Line: The Morning Call "newspaper" refused to even discuss any of the many facts in this blog post w/ me in person, forget about reporting on them, despite my 229 polite requests to (now former) top "management."  

100% Integrity-Free Morning Call "reporter" Manny Gamiz? I don't know how he can sleep at night or stomach looking in a mirror.

Readers, this is the second post in an ongoing series of LVS blog posts on "Facts The Morning Call "newspaper" refused to cover." See our right sidebar for more revelations.

Essential Reading > WHY WE FIGHT

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

In a word, W-O-W.

Anonymous said...

Wow, wow wow wow WOW!

Bill Villa said...

Thanks.

We're currently e-circulating a link to this post to everyone in our address book, including the Lehigh County Democrats, everybody at The Morning Call "newspaper," every media outlet within a 100 mile radius, and to DA Jim Martin because I want him to see me coming at him like a drunk driver.

Angie Villa said...

It's an election year for Jumbo Jimbo (left).

And hopefully the last one ... ;D

Anonymous said...

In a word, you've blown "the cover" off. These are serious matters. This blog is looked at as the thought leader of the Lehigh Valley's conscience. Incredible that's it's penned by parents who suffered a horrible tragedy.

Your FACTS cement my view.

I want to help.

Bill Villa said...

Thank you, our contact info is contained in this post ...

Join Our Justice Mission

Bill Villa said...

Readers, for your consideration, regarding the Sept '07 DUI homicide case I am referencing in this post, there's a major and glaring discrepancy in what that case's grieving father was told by DA Jim Martin's office, the night before their trial was set to start, and what the DA's office told Judge Steinberg the night before trial.

At themorningcall.com, the grieving father in that case, Chris Mohney, posted this comment that's still out there on the internet as of the date & time of my comment here:

9/27/06 > Chris Mohney said...
"The Homicide while DUI was "dropped" because the hospital lost or never had the proper paperwork to maintain a chain of custody on the drivers blood. Once that charge was gone there was no plea bargain, Squires simply pled guilty to the balance of the charges. I told the reporter that yesterday when we spoke but she omitted it from the article. I obviously wish the whole truth had been printed. Thanks LVHC"

But at Chris Casey's "blog blurb," Judge Steinberg (according to Casey) said this about DA Jim Martin's tricky 11th hour switcheroo:

"Judge Steinberg told me that he never entered an order to that effect, that he accepted a plea deal that was presented to him with the understanding that both sides were on board. The D.A.'s office had made it known to him that "The Commonwealth did not know what had happened to the legal blood." Who lost or what happened to that blood sample is unknown, but the Judge had no information other than that given by the D.A.'s office."

--------

So which was it?

Was blood evidence "tossed" by Judge Steinberg, as was reported by Chris Mohney at themorningcall.com, and as was denied (according to Casey) by Judge Steinberg?

Or were both sides "on board" with a plea deal that dropped the major charges, which Chris Mohney has denied to me?

There was a time when The Morning Call's "investigative" reporter Tim Darragh was telling me that this was one of numerous "excellent questions that deserved to be answered" that I was raising.

But not only did these excellent questions never get answered, I have been denied (229 times) the opportunity to even discuss my excellent questions in person at The Morning Call "newspaper."

BTW, the Morning Call "reporter" Chris Mohney mentions in his comment was Debbie Garlicki who now works (officially) for DA Jim Martin.

Bill Villa said...

(almost forgot)

Lehigh Valley Hospital told Chris Mohney there was "nothing inadmissible" about the blood samples they collected and submitted to the DA's office. I got this directly from Chris Mohney.

Bill Villa said...

FUN FACTS TO KNOW & TELL ABOUT THE MORNING CALL "NEWSPAPER." And please look this up, watchdogs.

Shortly after this case "resolved," some Morning Call advertising sales people who had worked w/ Chris Mohney at another company called Chris and told him they were doing really well in ad sales at The Morning Call and encouraged (i.e., recruited) him to apply for a position that was open.

Guess what, Chris Mohney got the job.

Bill Villa said...

Not surprisingly, after Chris Mohney got a sales job at The Morning Call "newspaper," he stopped returning my phone calls and speaking w/ me. But I didn't connect the dots on this until I happened to stumble across Chris Mohney's name one day among The Morning Call Staff Listings. Yep. Talk about your jaw-dropping double-take. Now I understood his radio silence. So I called The Morning Call's Chris Mohney pretending to be a prospective advertiser w/ some excellent questions. I got Chris and he proceeded to tell me this ...

* The Morning Call was not buying his silence (BTW, Chris immediately volunteered this; I didn't ask him anything along these lines)

* Shortly after he started at "the Call," he was called into the office of one of the "Big Wigs" (he wouldn't specify who it was). He was asked (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Would you like us to speak w/ the DA's office about the confusion surrounding the outcome of your perpetrator's guilty plea hearing?" Chris said yes. So (now gone) "reporter" Matt Birkbeck was dispatched to speak w/ the Deputy DA who had called Chris Mohney the night before trial telling him the "bad news" (wink wink) about Judge Steinberg (allegedly) "tossing" the blood evidence because Lehigh Valley Hospital had (allegedly) fucked up, Renee Smith (quoted here convincingly feigning "outrage").

"Reporter" Matt Birkbeck reported back to "Mr. Big" at the "newspaper" and Chris Mohney that Renee Smith was on record saying that Mr. Mohney had "misunderstood" what she had told him (on DA Jim Martin's behalf) the night before trial, and that if he wanted to get an attorney and fight it, it would be her word against his. According to Chris Mohney, "Mr. Big" sort of shrugged at him as if to say, "Well, we tried ... but that's that."

Alrighty then.

Last I heard Chris Mohney moved back to the Pittsburgh area where he grew up.

Over the course of the year-plus we had been communicating, and always by phone or email, Chris Mohney had scheduled about a half-dozen in-person meetings w/ me. He always canceled them. Re-scheduled. And canceled them again.

I hope he has found peace and is moving on w/ his life, and I Imagine The Morning Call (and Jim Martin) are all very pleased that that is Chris's intention.

Works out better this way for everyone.

Bill Villa said...

(almost forgot)

PIVOTAL FACT: DA Jim Martin and the grandfather of the guy who killed Chris Mohney's son Zach are longtime pals. The grandfather attended DA Jim Martin's most recent, invitation-only, reelection swearing-in ceremony in January, 2008. So there's your motive.

Look it up, watchdog.

McJudas said...

My my, such a stark contrast in how the Morning Call newspaper treated grieving father Chris Mohney and how they continue to treat grieving father Bill Villa, eh? Gee, we hope the message is crystal clear to you, Lehigh County. Do not stand up to Jim Martin and The Morning Call (and head butt them repeatedly) or they'll get a Morning Call blogger to file phony/bogus "criminal charges" against you, which Jim Martin will then get his pally Tom Corbett to rubber stamp, and The Morning Call will only make believe that they're "investigating" it, all in an attempt to discredit and destroy you.

McJudas said...

(almost forgot)

Throw in a good old-fashioned and Morning Call-sponsored blog war (for water-muddying diversion and division) and hopefully all the quivering local Democrats will remain too scared shitless to run against Jim Martin.

Bill Villa said...

Well said, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Here's the MC today being a press release machine for D.A. Jim Martin again. Forget the fact that "combatting gangs" was a Jim Martin "priority" (wink wink) 4 years ago. Obviously the MC has forgotten that since they predictably don't "call" Martin on it in this P.R. article. They let him critique himself by saying, "Some would argue we're late to the game." Nice. Notice that "some" who argue (or question) doesn't include Martin cheeleader/"reporter" Kevin Amerman who's scared shitless of Jim Martin like everybody else around here except Bill Villa. Pathetic.

Bill Villa said...

Agreed, and thanks for the catch.

Anonymous said...

When you have a Press in bed with local Government, everyone should be concerned. This corruption you write about is astounding. Anywhere else in this Nation, these bastards would be indicted. So to get a "stay out of jail card", just make a Campaign Contribution to the local DA. It seems to be an assurance policy.
Spooky!

Bill Villa said...

Thanks for commenting and we agree with you 100% that everyone should be concerned. It's an incestuous snake pit of colluding cronies around here, and it involves (heavily) our local blogosphere, i.e., people who could be blowing the whistle in harmony with us. Instead, they're in bed with the press that's in bed with the local politicos. It's very spooky. We'll continue to do our part here but we need Rick Daugherty and the Lehigh County Democrats to stop being (respectfully) penny loafer fuckin' pussies and grow a set of balls (like say ours) and get a strong candidate to run against Jim Martin and retire Jim to a bar stool at the Hogan's Club permanently. Enough of this ass clown Jim Martin already. He's an embarrassment even to Lehigh County.

Bill Villa said...

(almost forgot)

And we're only 2 posts into a multi-post (probably a baker's dozen) exposé on DA Jim Martin and The Morning Call.

Stay tuned, it gets spookier.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Villa,this is all very interesting. I was never aware of any of this.

Bill Villa said...

Try to contain your outrage.

To paraphrase Will Rogers, around here ... all we know is what we read in the paper.

And if "the paper" doesn't want you to know it, they don't report it.

It's that simple, and that easy, to conceal the truth around here.

If we want to be able to trust our town's only newspaper, and what they tell us, we'll need a Major Housecleaning at The Morning Call.

The City Official said...

In my observation, it's taking Jeff Pooley longer than usual to "respond" to this post with a post of his own in praise of the Morning Call as he helpfully always does (while Molovinsky does boxing metaphors), maybe later today?

Bill Villa said...

Another always astute observation, thank you.

LVS SiteMeter(R) Spotlight said...

FYI: LVS's current most frequent obsessive/compulsive visitor/stalkers (500+ visits daily) are coming from the "LehighCounty.org" IP. These folks would of course be DA (for now) Jim Martin, "Executive Aide" (wink wink) Debbie Garlicki, and DA Jim Martin shield/sycophant Merrily Starkey, among others.

Domain Name > ptd.net
IP Address > 204.186.62.# (PenTeleData)
Host > LehighCounty.org
City > Allentown, PA

Time of Visit > Jan 10 2011 9:46:42 am

LVS SiteMeter(R) Spotlight said...

One of LVS's most frequently visiting IP addresses (hundreds of times daily) is from employees and elected officials from the "CITY OF ALLENTOWN."

Domain Name > (Unknown)
IP Address > 208.251.203.# (CITY OF ALLENTOWN)
City > Allentown

Time of Visit > Jan 10 2011 10:10:33 am