Pa. court rejects appeal in midstate police chase, shooting convictions

Now-26-year-old Shawn McCoy was convicted on several counts in the April 2015 chase.

• The Associated Press
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(Harrisburg) — A state appeals court has rejected an appeal by a man serving a 28- to 60-year prison term on convictions including shooting at a police officer during a high-speed car chase in Central Pennsylvania six years ago.

Now-26-year-old Shawn McCoy was convicted of robbery, assault on a law enforcement officer, illegal gun possession, criminal conspiracy and escape in the April 2015 chase following an armed robbery near a Harrisburg cafe. Jurors in Dauphin County acquitted him of attempted murder and aggravated assault.

PennLive.com reports that a Superior Court panel on Monday rejected the defense contention that McCoy’s lawyer should have asked a judge to instruct the jury on the testimony of witnesses with a record of crimes involving lying. The appeals court said such an instruction would have made no difference because jurors were well aware of the criminal history of the witness, and anyway other evidence linked McCoy to the crimes.

Police said at least two bullets struck a patrol car during the chase, but no one was injured and officers didn’t return fire. A witness testified that McCoy told her not to stop when an officer tried to pull their car over and he also leaned out the car window and fired four shots at the pursuing police cruiser.

McCoy’s trial attorney insisted that he wasn’t the shooter and unsuccessfully asked the judge to consider the much shorter terms imposed on two co-defendants.