DA drops charge in sword attack at Pittsburgh hotel during furry convention

The prosecution Monday withdrew its case against a South Carolina man accused of a sword attack in a Pittsburgh hotel room this summer while he was in town for the annual Anthrocon convention.

Police charged Jake O’Leary, 26, of Greenville, S.C., with aggravated assault after the July incident at the Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh Downtown. The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office dropped the case because of a “lack of victim participation,” court paperwork showed.

“This was the second preliminary hearing date that the victim did not appear and, thus, the case could not proceed,” the DA’s office said in a prepared statement.

Assistant District Attorney Alyssa Henderson withdrew the single count during a preliminary hearing in City Court that lasted no more than 60 seconds.

O’Leary stood quietly alongside his attorney, Lyle L. Dresbold.

“I think everyone’s happy this is behind us,” Dresbold told TribLive outside the courtroom.

O’Leary declined to comment.

Pittsburgh police were dispatched to the hotel at 1:13 a.m. July 4 after a hotel guest was found bleeding in a hallway and screaming for help, according to a criminal complaint in the case.

Police found blood on the floor and walls of the hotel’s fifth floor, the complaint said. A large, black sword lay nearby.

The victim was struck “multiple times” with the sword and suffered a cut on one finger down to the bone, police said.

The victim, who told police she previously dated O’Leary, and two men who had come to Pittsburgh for the furry convention, didn’t return phone calls or a text message seeking comment.