by peter e. bortner
Juan J. "Montana" Perez, who led police on a chase through Shenandoah in June 2012, must remain behind state prison bars, a three-judge state Superior Court panel has decided.
Perez, 29, of Shenandoah, provided no reason to overturn his conviction of sentence, the panel ruled in a six-page opinion filed Wednesday in Pottsville.
In a one-day trial, a jury convicted Perez on Aug. 28, 2013, of flight to avoid apprehension and resisting arrest. Judge John E. Domalakes, who presided over the trial, sentenced Perez on Oct. 8 to serve 17 months to seven years in a state correctional institution, pay costs and $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account, and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
Shenandoah police charged Perez with running away from them about 5:45 p.m. June 21, 2012, in the borough.
Police said Perez crawled out a window at 332 E. Mount Vernon St., returned to the house, left through another window onto a roof, jumped down into a yard and continued fleeing until caught.
Perez raised only one issue in his appeal: that the court should not have allowed a statement he made to Shenandoah police Chief George F. Carado Jr. into evidence.
"You know me. I'm always going to make you earn your money," was the statement Perez wanted suppressed.
However, in an opinion by Senior Judge John L. Musmanno, the panel ruled there was no reason not to allow the statement into evidence.
Carado had testified that in the hospital after the chase, Perez complained about being hurt, and he told the defendant he could have avoided any injuries if he had turned himself in voluntarily. At that point, Carado testified, Perez made the statement in question.
Musmanno ruled the county court's determination that Carado was not questioning Perez, and his answer was not reasonably foreseeable, was supported by the evidence and would be upheld.
Judge Paula Francisco Ott and Vic Stabile, the other panel members, joined in Musmanno's opinion.
Perez was a fugitive after failing to appear in court on Dec. 12, 2012, until May 9, 2013, when he was captured in Tamaqua. The Republican-Herald featured him in its Jan. 6, 2013, edition as county prosecutors sought the public's help in capturing him.