Homicide suspect's hearing postponed

10/25/2012 7:19 AM

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By Scott Beveridge, Staff writer sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com

This article has been read 2422 times.


A decorated war veteran charged with murder in a suspected road-rage altercation had his preliminary hearing postponed Wednesday to give his attorney time to interview new defense witnesses who have stepped forward.

District Judge Robert Redlinger rescheduled the hearing for Brandon Daniel Thomas, 30, of Upper St. Clair, for Nov. 7 in Central Court to the disappointment of the prosecution, which was prepared Wednesday to present its case with five witnesses.

"I would have preferred the motion been made yesterday or the day before," Assistant District Attorney Mike Lucas said, without commenting further on the case.

Thomas, who received three Purple Hearts for injuries he suffered to his head, shin and thigh while serving tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, admitted to Washington police he shot Vaughn Simonelli, 55, of Washington, twice in the chest after the man blocked in his vehicle and punched him while he sat in his 2006 GMC Hummer Oct. 18 in the parking lot of Shop 'n Save in Washington. The shooting happened three days after North Franklin Township police found him under suspicion of drunken driving, passed out behind the wheel of his Hummer parked outside a closed bar. Township police said he was acting strangely, wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a small arsenal of legal weapons. He was set free that morning because, police said, there was no evidence he had committed a crime. Thomas' attorney, Frank Walker of Pittsburgh, said Wednesday the incident in North Franklin and reports the veteran suffers from war-related post-traumatic stress disorder are irrelevant to the death of Simonelli.

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" Someone chased him down," Walker said following Thomas' court appearance. "He pulled out his gun and defended himself. That's it."

He said Thomas should be facing nothing more than involuntary manslaughter or be exonerated under Pennsylvania's Castle Doctrine, which permits the use of deadly force against an attacker in certain circumstances.

Walker described his client as a war hero with a Bronze Medal of Valor who is "shocked and depressed" by his arrest on a murder charge that has put him in the Washington County jail without bond.

"It's my position he is innocent," Walker said. Thomas is a native of Tennessee who relocated to the area because his wife is from Pittsburgh.

"They have three young children," Walker said. "He coaches on his daughter's soccer team."

Just this week, Walker said, Thomas received a job offer to work for Halliburton Energy Services of Southpointe as a project manager in the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry.

Walker said he did not know what provoked the road rage incident and that he has seen no evidence that the two vehicles were involved in a fender-bender before Thomas pulled into the grocery store at 125 W. Beau St. He also said he did not know why his client travels to Washington or had visited a local Red Roof Inn the night he was briefly detained by North Franklin police.

He said it's unfortunate that Thomas is defending himself against the same Constitution he fought to protect while serving in the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, which is raising money via Facebook to pay for his defense and assist his family.

Relatives of Thomas and the victim were escorted from the Washington County Courthouse under protection of deputy sheriffs, without commenting to reporters.

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