MEADVILLE — A new set of prosecutors is handling one of the biggest criminal cases in Crawford County in years.
Due to a staffing shortage in the Crawford County District Attorney’s Office, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has taken over the prosecution of the case against Shawn C. Cranston, the Corry resident charged in the killing of 23-year-old Rebekah A. Byler, who was Amish, and her unborn child in Sparta Township in February.
Cranston’s trial is scheduled for March in Crawford County Common Pleas Court.
Crawford County District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo said she requested that the Attorney General’s Office take over the case in the fall, after the size of her staff dropped from four prosecutors to two, including herself.
Rebekah A. Byler, a 23-year-old Amish woman who was about six months pregnant, was found shot to death on Feb. 26 inside her residence on Fish Flats Road in Sparta Township, Crawford County. Authorities also said her throat was slashed.
DiGiacomo said the Attorney General’s Office agreed to the request on Oct. 9 “because of the lack of resources” in her office. Two prosecutors with the Attorney General’s Office filed their formal appearances in the case on Jan. 13, according to court records.
“The Attorney General’s Office agreed to appoint two prosecutors to handle the Cranston homicide case because at the time the District Attorney’s Office had only two attorneys,” DiGiacomo told the Erie Times-News on Tuesday.
Crawford County DA’s Office shrank over the summer
DiGiacomo said the departure of two prosecutors in her office over the summer dropped the number of prosecutors to two. Since she made the request that the Attorney General’s Office take over the Cranston case, DiGiacomo said, she has hired a full- and a part-time prosecutor, bringing the staffing level in her office to 3½ prosecutors.
DiGiacomo said she needs all the staff, including herself, to cover cases in three courtrooms at the Crawford County Judicial Center in Meadville, as well cases in juvenile court and at four district justice offices in the county. She said having the Attorney General’s Office on the Cranston case allows her staff to dedicate its time to the other cases.
Until the staffing level in her office was reduced to two prosecutors, DiGiacomo said, her office handled all the matters in the Cranston case. They included his five-hour preliminary hearing on March 15 and matters concerning the disclosure of evidence to the defense in the discovery process.
The Attorney General’s Office is now handling the entire case, including the trial. The office confirmed to the Erie Times-News in an email that it received the referral from the Crawford County District Attorney’s Office in October, and that the case is pending for trial.
The two prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office who entered appearances in the case are Evan Lowry and Kevin Scheibel, according to court records. They are deputy attorney generals based in Pittsburgh, according to state records.
Byler case has attracted national attention
Cranston, 53, is being held without bond at the Crawford County Correctional Facility on charges of criminal homicide, criminal homicide of an unborn child, burglary and criminal trespass.
Pennsylvania State Police charged Cranston on March 2 with killing Byler in her home on Fish Flats Road in the Amish enclave of Sparta Township, in eastern Crawford County, the morning of Feb. 26.
Byler was about six months pregnant, and her 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son were home when she was killed, police said. Authorities said she was shot in the head and her throat was slashed.
Police allege Cranston went to Byler’s residence sometime on the morning of Feb. 26 after Byler’s husband left home with others to scout for roofing jobs around the area. Byler’s husband found her dead when he returned home later that day, according to testimony at Cranston’s preliminary hearing.
Cranston’s residence in Corry, in southern Erie County, is about 10 miles north of the Byler home. Police used surveillance video and cellphone data to arrest him.
Authorities have not offered a motive in the case, which has drawn national attention because of a homicide occurring in an Amish community.
A lawyer from the Pittsburgh area, Louis W. Emmi, represents Cranston.
At trial, Emmi will spar with prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office rather than DiGiacomo and her staff at the Crawford County District Attorney’s Office. Given the staffing issues in her office, DiGiacomo said, “I have no regrets for requesting the Attorney General’s Office to assign prosecutors to the case.”
Staff writer Tim Hahn contributed to this report.
Contact epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: PA Attorney General’s Office takes over case of Amish mom’s killing