Northampton County DA race already heated, as candidates trade criticism

EASTON, Pa. — Nominating petitions for the May primary election have barely been entered into the books, and candidates for the Democratic nomination for Northampton County district attorney already are in a heated battle.

• Stephen Baratta, the candidate for the Democratic nomination for Northampton County District Attorney, held a news conference last week criticizing his opponent, incumbent Terry Houck
• At the conference, Baratta detailed three cases he said show “incompetence, fundamental unfairness and ethical concerns" in Houck's office
• Houck defended his actions in the cases and called Baratta's charges are "factually inaccurate"

Challenger Stephen Baratta came out swinging last week, holding a news conference to criticize his opponent, incumbent Terry Houck, by pointing to three cases Baratta said show “incompetence, fundamental unfairness and ethical concerns.”

Houck defended his record, saying Baratta’s criticism wasn’t based in reality.

“He's picked out three cases in three and a half years, when we're having over 3,000 cases a year, and in all three, he's factually inaccurate,” Houck said.

Commonwealth v. Christopher Ferrante

In one case Baratta highlighted, Christopher Ferrante of Macungie was charged with drug delivery resulting in death for allegedly selling fentanyl to Michael Racciato of Pen Argyl, who died from an overdose on Christmas Day 2020.

In March 2022, prosecutors in charge of the case asked to postpone Ferrante’s trial; the court granted this request. Two months later, the judge overseeing the case, John Morganelli, rejected a second request to delay the trial further.

In filings explaining his rejection, Morganelli forcefully criticized the District Attorney’s office for not being ready to go to trial.

“I really am perplexed by this whole thing,” Morganeli said, according to court transcripts. “These cases are not unique to the criminal justice system. We’ve had hundreds of them over the years, so I just don’t know what happened here.”

Because of the successive delays, Ferrante eventually was released on $1 bail, subject to GPS monitoring, pretrial supervision and other conditions, according to court records.

In a written statement released Friday, Baratta said, “Was it negligent not to be ready for trial 15 months after Ferrante was arrested? Yes. Was it incompetent? I say yes.”

Though Baratta said it is “likely that [Ferrante] is never going to be in front of a jury to answer for the death of that young wrestler from Pen Argyl,” Houck said the case is ready to proceed whenever the appeal is resolved.

“We're 100 percent ready for trial now, Houck said. "And I am very, very confident that we're going to convict this guy. We could try it right now.”

In an email to the judge requesting the most recent delay, the assistant district attorney handling the case said investigators re-tested the victim’s drugs and found xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer increasingly mixed into illicit opioids. Tests showed xylazine in the victim’s blood.

Because it is not a controlled substance, forensic examiners originally didn’t test for it, the email says. The email argues that a toxicologist consulting on the case needed more time.

In an interview, Houck said the additional drug complicated the case, and required extra time. And that a surge of overdoses on xylazine-laced fentanyl regionally has put experts to testify in high demand with a long wait.

Commonwealth v. Robert Gregory

In early 2021, a man named Robert Gregory crashed his car.

When police responded, Officer Christopher D’Andrea, trained in recognizing whether someone is under the influence of drugs based on behavior, concluded that Gregory had been under the influence of stimulants at the time of the crash.

Based on that determination, Gregory was charged with DUI, in addition to reckless driving and driving without a license.

About a year later, in January 2022, Officer D’Andrea was charged with driving while intoxicated, which Baratta and Houck agree destroyed his credibility with a jury.

As a result, the DUI charge was dropped at trial in November. Gregory was found guilty of reckless driving, driving without a license, and driving without insurance.

Baratta, who was the judge overseeing the case at the time, sentenced him to 45-90 days in prison, according to court records.

Because he hadn’t been able to afford $35,000 bail, Gregory had spent more than a year in prison at that point; Baratta credited time served and released him.

Baratta said Houck knew about the DUI and hid that information from Gregory and his lawyer, which amounts to a violation of Gregory’s civil rights under a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The decisions, in Brady v. Maryland and Giglio v. United States, require prosecutors to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense, including evidence that could discredit witnesses for the prosecution.

Baratta argued Thursday that the DA’s office puts up internal barriers to releasing such information.

Baratta separately criticized the DA’s office for opposing a motion from the defense to reduce the amount of bail.

Houck defended his office’s policy, and said because prosecutors never called D’Andrea to testify at trial, there was no need to disclose his arrest. He said the decision to drop the DUI charge shows prosecutors met their obligations.

“If there's something so offensive here, then why isn't the very judge presiding over the case telling us that ‘Hey, what the hell is going on?’ ” Houck said. “He never said that, because there was nothing.”

The Commonwealth v. Scott Miller

Then-Washington Township Police Chief Scott Miller was driving home early on Jan. 6, 2020, when he ran off the road, drove through someone’s yard and came to rest against their house.

Rather than calling the police, Miller called a tow truck driver; after seeing the damage, the tow truck driver notified the police.

The officers who responded never filed charges, Houck said, so the District Attorney’s office did not hear about the incident until days later, when he announced an investigation.

The investigation eventually found that Miller had spent the eight hours before his crash in a bar, where he bought food and alcohol, Houck said in a news conference at the time.

Police who responded to the crash said they smelled alcohol on Miller's breath and described his speech as “mush-mouthed.”

In particular, Houck cited the weather the night of the crash — according to data from the National Weather Service, about an inch of snow fell from the evening of Jan. 5 through the following day.

In spite of these findings, Houck said he lacked evidence for a DUI charge, and instead would file charges of failing to report an accident. Both charges later were dismissed.

“Obviously, there's an ethical issue in [the district attorney’s] office, where they're trying to protect the chief,” Baratta said.

Houck responded: “I just charged Vincent Brunico, who was a 17-year officer at Easton police department” with aggravated assault. “If there's an implication here that I don't charge police, that's absolute nonsense. I'll charge whoever committed a crime.”

The primary election is May 16, and the general election is Nov. 7.