MEADVILLE — The homicide trial of a Conneautville area woman accused by Pennsylvania State Police of the shotgun slaying of her husband last October now is scheduled for January in Crawford County Court of Common Pleas.

However, Judge John Spataro, who will preside over the upcoming trial, must rule on whether Patricia Oliver’s alleged confession to state police should be suppressed from being entered into evidence.

Oliver, 54, of 16782 S. Norrisville Road, Conneautville, is charged by state police with criminal homicide for the Oct. 5, 2010, death of her 63-year-old husband, Anthony D. Oliver, at their Hayfield Township home. Police allege Mrs. Oliver shot her husband just before 10 a.m. that day with a single-barrel 12-gauge shotgun during a domestic dispute.

Spataro Tuesday granted a request by Jeff Misko, an assistant county public defender representing Oliver, to move Oliver’s trial to January.

Oliver’s trial had been set for the November term of Crawford County Court, which is scheduled for Nov. 7 through 18. Misko said Mrs. Oliver is to be evaluated by a defense team psychologist, but that evaluation isn’t scheduled until mid-November, well into the trial term.

Police allege Mrs. Oliver shot her husband in the bedroom of their home after Mr. Oliver had gone into the bedroom and called her derogatory names. Police allege Mrs. Oliver reached under the couple’s bed, pulled out a shotgun that her husband kept under the bed and then shot him once.

At the Tuesday’s evidence suppression hearing in county court, Misko argued that Oliver’s alleged confession to the crime should be suppressed because she didn’t knowingly, voluntarily or intelligently waive her rights to be interviewed by police following her arrest.

Misko argued that Mrs. Oliver was too distraught to know the legal implications of her action of waiving her rights prior to the start of the interview at the state police barracks on Oct. 5, 2010.

In a video of Oliver’s interview with police shown in court Tuesday, Oliver was upset and crying.

Trooper Eric Mallory, a state police criminal investigator, testified Mrs. Oliver was alternately crying and not crying during that interview.

Mallory said Mrs. Oliver said she understood her rights when asked by police during the interview.

However, Mallory said Mrs. Oliver didn’t answer when she was asked to stop police if she didn’t understand something.

Dr. Robert Dowling, an Erie psychologist called as a defense witness during Tuesday’s hearing, testified he reviewed the video and in his opinion Oliver was in a “heightened emotional state.”

Dowling said that in his opinion she could “not knowingly, certainly not intelligently, waive her rights” nor could she know the consequences of her decision to do so.

Dowling also testified he reviewed the two-hour video several times and the officers had treated Mrs. Oliver respectfully and appropriately, without coercion.   

Under cross-examination by Douglas Ferguson, an assistant district attorney, Dowling said he had not reviewed any police reports prior to writing his own report.

Dowling also testified he had not spoken with police, Mrs. Oliver or Ryan Patton, a mental health crisis worker whom police had contacted to evaluate Mrs. Oliver’s mental state before the police interview began.

In their closings, Misko argued a person must have an appropriate mental state to be able to waive his or her rights, while Ferguson argued that it “boggles the mind” that Mrs. Oliver would understand her rights when they are read to her, yet immediately afterward not understand them when she signs the waiver.

Spataro gave Misko up to 20 days to file a potential legal brief with case law to support his position and then Ferguson up to seven days to respond, if Misko files the brief.

Following the hearing, Mrs. Oliver was returned to the Crawford County jail where she has been held without bond since her arrest.

Mrs. Oliver’s husband was a convicted sex offender, according to the Pennsylvania State Police Megan’s Law website — a public registry of convicted sex offenders.

Anthony D. Oliver was convicted on a charge of sexual abuse in July 2004 in New York, according to the website.

In early October 2010 following the shooting incident, The Niagara Falls, N.Y., Gazette, reported Anthony D. Oliver was a retired traffic officer for the Niagara Falls Police Department. After retiring from the force around 16 years ago, according to the Gazette, he took a management position with a western New York-based solid waste disposal service and was tried in 2004 following reports of sexual improprieties.

Mr. Oliver pleaded guilty that year to a charge of sexual abuse stemming from the employment incident, according to the Gazette.



Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.