By Karen Blackledge
DANVILLE — A Philadelphia man serving 10 years to 20 years in a state prison for a Danville jewelry store robbery has been charged with perjury for saying he didn’t have pepper spray when he was arrested.
State police at Milton charged Eric J. Smith, 40, with lying during his jury trial June 10.
Smith testified numerous times he didn’t have the pepper spray when he was arrested and that it was planted on him or tampered with.
A mobile video recording and testimony from Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner Jr., Danville Police Sgt. William Wilt III and Danville Patrolman Gerard Zeidler showed the can of pepper spray was retrieved from a pocket in Smith’s pants when he was arrested, according to the charge filed Tuesday in the office of District Judge Marvin Shrawder.
Shrawder arraigned Smith via videoconferencing. Smith is incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill.
Buehner told arresting officer Trooper James Nizinski he was in his personal vehicle approaching Route 54 from Canal Street when he heard Zeidler yell his name on July 14, 2008. Buehner assisted in the capture of Smith, who ran in front of his vehicle. Buehner told Nizinski that Zeidler pulled the pepper spray can from Smith’s pocket.
Zeidler said he pulled the can from Smith’s pocket and threw it on the ground. Wilt said he picked up the pepper spray after Smith was handcuffed.
Nizinski reviewed the mobile video recorder in Wilt’s cruiser, which showed Zeidler pulling an object from Smith’s pocket and throwing it on the ground and Wilt later retrieving the object, identified as the pepper spray.
Melanie McDuffie, 44, of Sicklerville, N.J., was charged in the robbery of Ryan’s Jewelers on Mill Street, but the charges were withdrawn by Buehner because he said she has been cooperating with investigators. She was identified as Smith’s girlfriend.
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