An attorney is questioning the credibility of a state trooper who filed a criminal complaint in May against a Boalsburg man charged in connection to a string of Centre County robberies.
Dmitriy Litvinov, 23; Maksim Illarionov, 21; and Alexei Semionov, 23, were charged in connection to a several armed robberies occurring at local businesses and residences from November 2009 to March 2010, according to court documents.
Litvinov’s attorney Karen Muir said in Centre County court during a hearing Monday that she received a letter from the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP).
Muir said the letter stated that Trooper Leigh Barrows — who in May authored the court documents detailing Litvinov’s charges — was disciplined in 1992 for making dishonest statements in an administrative interview.
No further information about the nature of the Barrows’ misconduct was disclosed during the hearing. Barrows was not present at the hearing.
Muir said she wanted Centre County District Judge Jonathon Grine, who presided over the 30-minute hearing, to order Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller to release the trooper’s personnel record that contains details of any disciplinary actions taken against Barrows.
Muir said she may want to use the file to bring the trooper’s credibility into question during a later trial.
Barrows filed a criminal complaint in May that said Litvinov took part in an armed robbery of The Dollar General Store in Centre Hall, Pa.
Grine did not make a decision in the hearing yesterday and told the attorneys to submit written arguments within the next 15 days.
Parks Miller argued against the order, saying that the file may contain personal information like medical records that should not be made public.
She suggested that the file be submitted to the court, which would make a decision about what information in the file — if any — would be relevant to the defendant’s case.
But Muir did not accept that compromise.
“[Previous cases] say that the prosecutor or the judge do not make the decision on what evidence is needed to defend my client,” Muir said after the hearing.
Parks Miller said in court she was not aware of any disciplinary action against Barrows and that her office has previously destroyed the trooper’s personnel file because of an expungement order.
The file is currently in the possession of the state police, Parks Miller said.
Muir said she was confident that there had been disciplinary action taken against the officer.
“It’s not a suspicion, it’s not a hunch, it’s not a rumor,” Muir told the judge. “It’s an actual admission by the PSP.”
Parks Miller also said the personnel file should not be admissible as evidence in court because the disciplinary action taken against Barrows — if there was any — does not relate directly to the case Litvinov is facing.
Litvinov, who has not yet posted his $100,000 straight cash bail, was present at the hearing.
He sat handcuffed and clad in a red Centre County Correctional Facility prisoner’s uniform but did not speak for the duration of the hearing.
Litvinov has been charged with seven counts of felony robbery, seven counts of felony criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, one count of felony theft by unlawful taking, two counts of misdemeanor criminal mischief for damaging property, according to court documents.
He is also facing five additional charges in connection to robberies that were reported between December 2009 and February 2010, according to court documents.