Attorney for beating suspect seeks lineup for client
The attorney for a Uniontown man accused of fracturing another man’s skull during a baseball bat beating has asked a Fayette County judge to order a lineup so that the alleged victims can identify him. State police charged Dirk P. Wolfe, 22, with attempted homicide and two counts each of aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person for allegedly beating Daniel Merico, 35, and Shelia Rebar, 39, with an aluminum baseball bat on Nov. 21.
His attorney Dianne H. Zerega, filed a motion Tuesday asking for the lineup because the only eyewitnesses to the alleged beating were the reported victims.
“It would be inherently unfair and prejudicial to all the witnesses present at the time of the incident to see the defendant for the first time in the courtroom at the preliminary hearing,” wrote Zerega.
Wolfe’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for mid-March before District Justice Randy Abraham.
“(Wolfe’s) presence there as the defendant, with no opportunity for the comparison permitted by a lineup, would unnecessarily suggest to the witnesses that he is the perpetrator and would likely result in an erroneous identification,” the motion continued.
She is requesting that the lineup have at least seven men, including Wolfe. The motion noted that the defense would supply the participants.
Police alleged Wolfe and his 18-year-old brother, Todd Wolfe, waited for Merico to leave an Amend Road residence in Georges Township and then attacked. Merico suffered five skull fractures from the beating and had to be flown to a Pittsburgh-area hospital, where he stayed in intensive care for two days. Additionally, police said Merico had blood on his brain and needed 12 staples to close a wound to the back of his head.
Rebar tried to stop the alleged attack and was hit in the back of the legs with a bat by the men, said police. She had bruises to the back of her legs, said police.
The motion will be presented to a judge on Thursday morning.