YORK COUNTY — A former York County caregiver convicted of assaulting a man with down syndrome may be off the hook. The Pennsylvania Superior Court determined his trial rights were violated.
“Criminal defendants have rights,” said Brian McNeil, York County Public Defender’s Office.
Call it a technicality or call it justice. But 65-year-old Albert Fraschetti, once convicted of indecent assault of a person with mental disability, might soon be free after a Pennsylvania Superior Court throws out his 2 1/2 to 5 year conviction.
“I was pleased. I was glad they agreed with us. We put forth arguments that I thought were based on the law,” McNeil said.
That argument centered around the amount of time the case took to get to trial. York County Appellate Public Defender Brian McNeil argued the York County District Attorney’s Office violated Rule 600 which dictates that a case must go to trial within a year of arrest.
“In Pennsylvania, you have a right to a speedy trial,” said George Margetas, attorney with law firm Margetas Law.
According to the filing, the District Attorney and York County court administration did not schedule or skipped the trial at least five times. In all, the delays mounted up to 403 days even excluding a two-month period where the defense asked for a delay.
“Our argument was, even taking those things into account, he was not tried on time and therefore the charging conviction had to be dismissed,” McNeil said.
“It is more or less meant to not keep people incarcerated without due process and having been convicted,” Margetas said.
We reached out to the York County District Attorney’s Office but they declined our request for an interview, instead releasing this statement.
“The office of the District Attorney plans to file an appeal in Commonwealth v Fraschetti. With that said, we are unable to comment beyond that.”
Defense attorneys say despite the optics of this case, everyone is entitled to a fair trial.
“Let the most guilty person go free so that the most innocent people can have that protection,” said Margetas.
Fraschetti’s future is very much up in the air. I checked with State Correctional Institution Rockview where he is being housed and as of this morning, he is still incarcerated. McNeil said that future may depend on the DA’s next step.
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