Keith A. Reber must remain behind state prison bars for the death of an Orwigsburg man he tied to a tree in May 2012 in South Manheim Township, a three-judge state Superior Court panel ruled this week.
In an 18-page opinion filed Tuesday, the panel ruled Reber, 50, of Schuylkill Haven, offered no valid reason to reverse either his conviction or sentence on five charges stemming from the death of Bryan R. Smith.
As a result, Reber must serve the sentence of 14 to 28 years in a state correctional institution that Schuylkill County Judge Charles M. Miller imposed on Aug. 21, 2013. Reber is serving that sentence at SCI/Houtzdale in Clearfield County.
State police at Schuylkill Haven alleged that because he suspected Smith of stealing from his girlfriend, Lisa Keller, Reber led him to the woods behind 294 Meadow Drive, the defendant's home, about 3 a.m. May 28, 2012, brandished a gun, used military-style flex-ties to bind Smith to a tree and left him there.
Smith, 26, died about 10 p.m. after spending the day tied to the tree, prosecutors said.
After a four-day trial over which Miller presided, a jury convicted Reber on June 27, 2013, of involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, conspiracy, recklessly endangering another person and tampering with evidence, but acquitted him of first-, second- and third-degree murder, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint and two counts of simple assault.
In the panel's opinion, Judge Christine L. Donohue rejected Reber's contentions that prosecutors failed to produce enough evidence to support the kidnapping charge, that pre-trial publicity made it impossible to select a fair jury in the county, that Miller should not have allowed photographs from Smith's autopsy to be shown to jurors and that Dr. Neil A. Hoffman testimony about the cause of Smith's death was inadmissible.
"The Commonwealth presented sufficient evidence to prove each element of the kidnapping charge," Donohue wrote.
She noted that Reber tied Smith to a tree in a remote location and brought a gun to force him along.
Donohue wrote that Reber waived the issue of pre-trial publicity by not raising it with Miller.
"Reber failed to file a pre-trial motion ... and failed to raise the issue at trial," she wrote.
With respect to the photographs, Donohue wrote that Miller examined each one individually, admitted only some of them and gave jurors a cautionary instruction about how to consider them. Furthermore, each photograph had evidentiary value be in that they showed how Smith died, according to Donohue.
"The trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the Commonwealth to introduce the autopsy photographs of Smith," she wrote.
Donohue also concluded that Hoffman's opinions about Smith's death were based on a reasonable degree of scientific certainty and were not speculative.
"We will not disturb the trial court's determination," she wrote.
Judges Sallie Updyke Mundy and Jack A. Panella, the other panel members, joined Donohue's opinion.
Reber's co-conspirator, Daniel W. Dull, 27, of Orwigsburg, who testified against him, pleaded guilty on July 9, 2103, to involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy. Miller sentenced Dull on that date to serve three to six years in a state correctional institution, plus four additional years on probation; he currently is incarcerated at SCI/Mahanoy.Defendant: Keith A. Reber
Age: 50
Residence: Schuylkill Haven
Crimes committed: Involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, conspiracy, recklessly endangering another person and tampering with evidence
Prison sentence: 14 to 28 years in a state correctional institution