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WILKES-BARRE — A district judge was compelled to accept hearsay testimony at a preliminary hearing for a Nanticoke man accused of sexually assaulting a girl for more than seven years.

The judge then sent the case against Jason Buchanan to county court and left his $500,000 bail unchanged.

Nanticoke police Capt. Det. Robert Lehman was the lone witness to testify against Buchanan on Friday, describing what the teenage girl allegedly told him.

Buchanan’s attorney, Michael Butera, objected several times, calling Lehman’s testimony “hearsay” and attempting to have it thrown out.

But Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Cara Solimine cited a recent state Supreme Court ruling, Commonwealth v. Ricker, which allows “hearsay testimony alone” to establish a case at the preliminary hearing level.

District Judge James Haggerty said the Supreme Court ruling forces him to accept Lehman’s testimony. He then forwarded charges of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and two counts each of aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault against Buchanan to Luzerne County Court.

“Even though it’s hearsay testimony, the Ricker case is the law today,” Haggerty said.

Lehman testified the girl, 15, told him Buchanan began sexually assaulting her when she was 8. Lehman said the girl was interviewed by a therapist at the Luzerne County Children’s Advocacy Center prior to charges being filed against Buchanan on Jan. 27.

“She said it continually occurred on a weekly basis,” Lehman said.

Lehman said the girl reported the alleged assaults to police Dec. 21.

Butera argued the charges should be dismissed because the girl had ample opportunities to report the alleged abuse.

“It’s preposterous to believe all this was going on for seven years and nobody else knew,” Butera said.

While the testimony of Lehman was short, Butera and prosecutor Solimine went back and forth for nearly 40 minutes about Buchanan’s bail.

Buchanan, 36, of East Grand Street, has been jailed at the county correctional facility since his arrest Jan. 28 for lack of $500,000 bail, which Butera asked to modify or lower.

Solimine asked for the bail to remain the same, telling Haggerty that Buchanan and his wife, Evalynn Buchanan, 35, ignored multiple phone calls from police and packed up their belongings and pets prior to the charges being filed. Lehman said Buchanan and his wife were found by troopers at a relative’s residence in Dushore, Sullivan County.

Solimine said the issue of bail was removed from Haggerty’s authority due to Butera filing a petition in county court last week to modify Buchanan’s bail, which was denied by county Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. on Feb. 14.

Haggerty said since the petition was filed in county court, he was unable to make any changes to Buchanan’s bail.

Evalynn Buchanan, meanwhile, stands accused of two counts of endangering the welfare of children for allegedly failing to protect the girl. She waived the charges to county court Feb. 7.

Jason Buchanan
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_Jason-Buchanan-01292018-4.jpg.optimal.jpgJason Buchanan

By Ed Lewis

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