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WILKES-BARRE — A man who opened fire outside a bar two days after getting shot during a free-for-all at the Hanover Village Apartments will take his case into his own hands and represent himself during his trial.
Sean James McPhail, 30, last known address of the Hanover Village Apartments, was expected to stand trial Tuesday in Luzerne County Court on aggravated assault charges stemming from the July 30, 2012, shooting outside the Pour House tavern on North Main Street in Ashley.
Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough continued McPhail’s trial until January after McPhail asked to represent himself, according to court records.
Ashley resident Shawn Reilly, then 31, was shot in the stomach after he was confronted by McPhail and 28-year-old Travis Humphrey in a parking lot behind the tavern, police say. Ashley police on Oct. 2, 2012, extradited McPhail from Staten Island, N.Y., after he was captured there the prior month.
Humphrey, identified by investigators as a member of the Long Island Boys street gang, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and was sentenced to 21 to 41 months in prison, court records show.
In 2009, Humphrey was sentenced to two years in the county’s special probation program for his role in “Operation Heavyweight,” an investigation that busted a heroin trafficking ring from Long Island, N.Y., to the Sherman Hills apartment complex in Wilkes-Barre.
Two days before the shooting, McPhail was one of two men shot during a melee involving nearly 20 people near the entrance to Hanover Village, police said.
Court records say McPhail was sentenced May 17, 2012 to six months probation on charges he provided false information after Nanticoke police stopped him for discarding marijuana bags on South Hanover Street on July 1, 2011.
McPhail remains jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility.