September 24, 2015- Commonwealth v Jean Rigard:  Jean G. Rigard, appeared before the Honorable John F. Cherry and pleaded guilty to Persons Not to Possess a Firearm, Carrying a Firearm without a License, and Simple Assault.  Rigard was sentenced to serve at least 4 to 10 years in a state correctional institution.  Factually, on February 9, 2014, around 2:20 a.m., Harrisburg police officers were dispatched to Mercado’s Pizza at 1701 Derry Street in Harrisburg.  Upon arrival, they observed an individual laying in a snow bank with a gunshot wound to his hip. 

Through a subsequent investigation it was learned that the victim was in line to order take-out when he was jumped by several males because the males believed the victim cut in front of them in line.  At some point during the fight, Rigard, even though he was not actually involved in the struggle, pulled out a firearm and fired two shots at unknown individuals.  This was learned after reviewing surveillance video from Mercado’s Pizza.  Then, as the victim was being assaulted by multiple people, Rigard was observed walking up to the victim and shooting the victim in the hip.  The victim was unable to identify the individual who shot him.  However, an individual who was previously arrested with Rigard during an unrelated drug investigation was able to positively identify him as the shooter in the surveillance video.  Additionally, when investigators went to speak with Rigard regarding the shooting, he was observed wearing the same pair of shoes that he was wearing during the incident on February 9. 

Rigard was ultimately arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault, Persons Not to Possess a Firearm, and Carrying a Firearm without a License.  However, at the preliminary hearing, the victim failed to appear.  Additionally, investigators attempted multiple times to contact the victim, but never heard back from him.  As a result, the Commonwealth agreed to amend the Aggravated Assault charge to a Simple Assault and the Defendant agreed to plead guilty to the firearms and simple assault charges.  Concerning the Persons Not to Possess charge, Rigard was prohibited from carrying a firearm for a 2009 conviction in New York for felony assault with a deadly weapon.

This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Andrew Jarbola.