LOCAL

Franklin Co. man's murder retrial rescheduled because all county judges recused themselves

Carley Bonk
Chambersburg Public Opinion

Ronald Harshman, 70, was scheduled to be retried Monday for the 1985 murder of Melvin Elwood Snyder, but it was rescheduled because all of the judges on the Franklin County Common Pleas Court recused themselves from the case.

The recusal slowed down the process of moving to retrial, requiring Franklin County to bring in an outside judge to preside over the trial, according to the court administrator's office. An unidentified conflict of interest was cited as grounds for recusal. 

A judge assignment order was filed on May 23.

Judge Edward Guido, of Cumberland County, has since taken over trial proceedings. Guido has held status and evidentiary hearings to get the case back on track.

More:Franklin County man to be retried for first-degree murder

Despite U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania vacating Ronald Harshman's conviction for first-degree murder on March 26 and directing the state to retry him within 90 days or free him, the retrial has been pushed back to January 2020.

Harshman is serving a life sentence for the murder of Ellwood. He was convicted in 2001 in a trial that proceeded without a body or a murder weapon.

In a 2009 appeal hearing, evidence revealed that Jack Nelson, Franklin County district attorney at the time, offered to help inmates out of jail early in exchange for testimony against Harshman in his murder trial. 

Following multiple appeal denials, Judge Connor ruled in favor of Harshman, stating the state "deprived Ronald Harshman of an opportunity to challenge the motives and veracity of jailhouse witnesses, whose testimony was critical" to his conviction for first-degree murder.  

More:U.S. judge vacates Franklin County man's murder conviction, rules he be freed or retried