Allegheny County Judge Dismisses Case Against Darlington Supervisor

An Allegheny County judge dismissed charges against a Darlington Township supervisor who had been accused of pulling a gun on a Pine Township man, calling the case "a bunch of crap."

Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel on Wednesday found John Raymond Nicely, 59, and his co-defendant, 29-year-old Michael Stepek, not guilty of all charges. The judge wrapped up the non-jury proceeding after telling onlookers in her courtroom that the case should have been tried across the street -- not in civil court, but in family court because "you're all behaving like children," she said.

Defense attorney Michael Witherel tried to paint 46-year-old Joseph Alan Piole, of Pine, as the bad guy in the encounter. But the judge would not allow him to bring up information about Piole's past or civil cases filed by other contractors.

Nicely was found not guilty of making terroristic threats, simple assault and defiant trespass. He is a member of the three-member Darlington Township Board of Supervisors in Beaver County.

Stepek was found not guilty of simple assault, harassment and defiant trespass.

The incident took place at Piole's home on Old State Road in Pine Township, according to a report from Northern Regional Police.

Piole said he had hired Nicely’s son, David, to work on a pond in his front yard and paid him $5,000 in cash in early August.

Piole testified that on the morning of Aug. 16, he observed men he did not recognize come onto his property and start moving construction equipment placed there by David R. Nicely Contracting.

When he confronted the men, they told him they were repossessing the equipment, Piole testified. He also said he told the men they needed to produce a court order or identification, but they did neither and continued moving equipment, he added.

 Piole described a standoff he said he had with Stepek as he tried to prevent Stepek from loading equipment on a trailer. Piole said Stepek punched him, but he described the hit as a "scuff" that made a red mark.

Piole testified that when the pushing started, John R. Nicely got out of a pickup truck with a cell phone and said he was calling police, according to the report.

After that, Piole testified, Nicely pointed a sawed-off shotgun at him and told him not to move as the construction equipment was loaded on a trailer.

Then David Nicely arrived in a tractor-trailer and told his father to get into a pickup truck and drive off, Piole testified.

Piole said he noticed a pistol stuck in the waistband in the back of David Nicely's pants.

David Nicely told Piole that the equipment had been repossessed because he lost it all to taxes, according to Piole's testimony.

Northern Regional Police Officer Matthew Crawshaw testified that he contacted David Nicely, who told the officer he directed his workers to pose as repossessors because he believed that was the easiest way to get equipment off the property without an incident.

David Nicely, 35, told the court he had done more than $5,000 worth of work on Piole's property when he decided to remove his equipment. 

He told the court that he "anticipated an argument" and went to the property around 9 a.m. in the hopes of not running into Piole.

David Nicely said that when he arrived, Piole was chasing Stepek around in circles and that Stepek was "running for his life." He said Piole was "flipping out" and hit Stepek, after which Stepek hit him back.

Nicely also testified that his father was holding a shotgun with the barrel pointed toward the ground, not toward Piole.

Assistant District Attorney Dave Zuckerman asked David Nicely to read over testimony he gave during a preliminary hearing and pointed out that he did not testify then that Piole hit Stepek.

Asked why he did not call police to deal with getting the equipment off the property, David Nicely said he had been referred to the job by a real estate agent and "I didn't know where I was."

Zuckerman asked if he knew that 911 is the universal number to call for police. David Nicely responded by asking if 911 also can be called with a cell phone.

John Nicely and Michael Stepek did not testify.

Police also charged David Nicely with terroristic threats and criminal conspiracy in the Aug. 16 incident, but those charges were dismissed at his preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Regis Welsh Jr.