Man accused in Wilkinsburg massacre sues Allegheny County over 'malicious prosecution'

One of two men accused of killing six people and an unborn child in a 2016 massacre in Wilkinsburg on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against the police officers who investigated the case, alleging misconduct and malicious prosecution.

The suit, filed by Robert J. Thomas, 33, names as defendants Allegheny County, five detectives, two supervisors and former police Superintendent Coleman McDonough.

A spokeswoman for the county said they have no comment.

Thomas and co-defendant Cheron Shelton were charged with multiple counts of homicide on June 23, 2016.

Police said that the men watched as a group of family and friends enjoyed a backyard cookout the night of March 9, 2016, on Franklin Avenue in Wilkinsburg. Thomas, armed with a handgun, started firing at the crowd, police said, and as the victims fled to the house’s back porch, Shelton fired dozens of rounds from an assault rifle.

Five people and an unborn child died that night. A man who was paralzyed in the shooting died from his injuries four years later.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty in the case, and both Thomas and Shelton remained in custody pending trial.

On Feb. 3, 2020, just an hour before testimony in the death penalty case was slated to begin before a jury, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski threw out the charges against Thomas.

He granted a motion by defense attorney Casey White to dismiss the case because of a lack of evidence against Thomas. The motion was sought after prosecutors announced that they would not be calling a cooperating jailhouse witness to testify at trial.

Shelton stood trial alone and was found not guilty on Feb. 14, 2020. The jury deliberated for three days.

Days later, Shelton was charged in federal court with possessing a stolen gun. He pleaded guilty and is currently serving an eight-year prison term. Thomas is currently incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail on domestic violence charges, including unlawful restraint, strangulation and kidnapping. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 10.

In the federal lawsuit, Thomas claims that Allegheny County Police homicide detectives, desperate to file charges in a high-profile crime “engaged in multiple acts of misconduct to cobble together a case by any means necessary.

“Mr. Thomas, along with Cheron Shelton, is innocent of all claims brought against him related to the Wilkinsburg Massacre,” the lawsuit said. “He had nothing to do with the crime and has no knowledge of the real perpetrator or perpetrators.”

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Max Petrunya and Paul Jubas, alleges that the detectives overlooked evidence that excluded Thomas from involvement in the crime, and instead sought to manufacture evidence against him through jailhouse witnesses.

The lawsuit said that neither saliva found near the scene, nor a footprint, match Thomas.

Further, he claims that the jailhouse witnesses who initially provided information to police were lying, and that detectives should have known they were lying.

“All charges brought against Plaintiff Robert Thomas were based on unsupported and unreliable information provided by jailhouse informants, and information manufactured by confidential informants coerced by law enforcement and the district attorney in exchange for immunity related to other crimes,” the lawsuit said.

Thomas is seeking damages for pain and suffering — including spending four years in jail, much of it in solitary confinement — loss of income and career opportunities and loss of family relationships.

He alleges that the detectives’ actions were “intentional, [in] bad faith, willful, wanton [and] reckless.”

Bruce Antkowiak, a law professor at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe and former prosecutor, said a civil rights suit like Thomas’ generally requires a showing of bad faith, such as manufactured evidence or a failure to turn over exculpatory evidence.

“Cases like this can succeed if proof of bad faith exists,” Antkowiak said. But he continued, “Not every dismissal or acquittal gives rise to a civil claim.”