Uniontown man to stand trial for attempted homicide
A Uniontown man was ordered to stand trial Monday on a charge of attempted homicide for allegedly beating a man with an aluminum baseball bat and striking a woman outside her Georges Township home. In addition to the attempted homicide charge, Fairchance District Justice Randy Abraham ordered Dirk Preston Wolfe, 23, of 361 N. Gallatin Ave., Uniontown, to stand trial on charges of two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of recklessly endangering another person, two counts of simple assault and criminal mischief. The case will be forwarded to Fayette County Court. Abraham made his ruling following a preliminary hearing.
A hearing was also scheduled for Wolfe’s cousin Todd Steven Wolfe, 18, same address, but it was delayed after his attorney, public defender David Kaiser, withdrew from the case due to a conflict of interest involving one of the alleged victims, Dan Merico.
Erika Rebar of Amend Road, Georges Township, testified that she saw the men beat Merico and that Dirk Wolfe then struck her mother, Sheila Rebar, on her leg when she went to check on Merico.
She said the incident took place outside of her mother’s house on Nov. 21 and that Merico was her mother’s live-in boyfriend at the time.
Under questioning by Assistant District Attorney John Kopas, Rebar said she and Todd Wolfe talked on the phone for about an hour until about 10:30 p.m.
Rebar said Todd Wolfe and another man, who she didn’t know at the time but later learned was Dirk Wolfe, arrived at her home at approximately 11 p.m.
She said Dirk walked into the yard yelling for the “man of the house,” but she and her mother came outside and told him to leave.
Merico then came outside and told him the leave, but he raised a bat that he was holding behind himself and swung it at Merico, she said.
As Dirk was hitting Merico’s arms, Todd Wolfe came up behind Merico and struck him in the back and legs with a bat, she said.
Merico fell to the ground and tried to get up, but Dirk hit him in the head and legs several more times, she said.
She estimated that Dirk hit Merico 20 times and remembered hearing the “swoosh” of the bat as Dirk swung it and “heard thunks afterward” when it struck Merico.
Dirk then struck her mother on her leg when she went to check on Merico, and then smashed windows on her mother’s car, she said. Dirk said “this isn’t over” before he and Todd left, she said.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Diane Zerega, Rebar said Todd called to apologize for something Dirk previously said to Merico, but did not say he and Dirk were coming over.
Sheila Rebar testified that she recognized Todd, but didn’t know who Dirk was when the pair showed up yelling for Merico to come outside.
She also said Dirk refused to leave and said he was there for the man of the house.
Merico came outside and told Dirk to leave, but Dirk struck him four or five times while Merico was trying to defend himself, she said.
Merico managed to punch Dirk twice and both men fell to the ground. When they got up, Dirk continued striking Merico with the bat and then Todd hit Merico in the back and legs, she said.
Merico fell back to ground where Dirk hit him about four more times on the head, she said.
When she went to check on Merico, Dirk hit her twice on her leg with the bat and said, “I was next,” she said.
He then smashed two windows on her car.
Merico, 36, testified that he drank “quite a few” beers that night. He said he went outside and saw “a couple young boys out there with ball bats.”
“I told them we didn’t want any trouble and told them to leave,” Merico said.
He said both boys began swinging their bats at him and he blocked some of the blows with his arms, but fell to one knee after being hit on the head and neck from behind.
While down, he was hit on the head again and lost consciousness, he said.
The next thing he said he remembered was waking up in UPMC Hospital in Pittsburgh.
He said he had a minor bruise on the back of his leg, but lost his sense of smell and has had trouble with his vision since the incident.
Under cross-examination, Merico said he saw only one bat, “but felt two.”
He said he is incarcerated on a receiving stolen property charge he described as a “big misunderstanding.”
State Trooper James Monkelis said Dirk made a statement claiming that he struck Merico in self defense and that Merico hit him, but didn’t respond to any questions about the bat.
Abraham remanded Wolfe to the Fayette County Prison in lieu of a $15,000 percentage bond.
Todd Wolfe was returned to the prison on the same bond, pending his hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.