Rebekah Byler Murder Case: PA Attorney General Takes Over; Trial Coming In March

It’s been awhile since we’ve had news on the Rebekah Byler homicide case. We last got an update in early October, when the trial of the accused, Shawn C. Cranston of Corry, PA, was moved for the second time.

At that time a continuance was granted to the defense, as more time was needed to process the “large amounts” of evidence.

Laundry line outside the Byler home on the day of Rebekah’s murder. Image: Jet 24 News

Now, word that a change has been made on the prosecution side. Reported today in the Erie Times-News:

MEADVILLE — A new set of prosecutors is handling one of the biggest criminal cases in Crawford County in years.

Due to a staffing shortage in the Crawford County District Attorney’s Office, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has taken over the prosecution of the case against Shawn C. Cranston, the Corry resident charged in the killing of 23-year-old Rebekah A. Byler, who was Amish, and her unborn child in Sparta Township in February.

This is going to be a high-profile trial, due to the unusual circumstance of the victims being Amish. So perhaps having the resources of the state Attorney General’s Office is a good thing.

I suppose a more cynical mind might guess at other reasons for the case being taken over by the state, but I’ll leave that alone.

In any case, there’s no suggestion that Crawford County’s prosecutors couldn’t handle this sort of case, assuming they had the staff for both it and their other duties.

It sounds like they were simply undermanned, as their staff was recently cut in half:

Crawford County District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo said she requested that the Attorney General’s Office take over the case in the fall, after the size of her staff dropped from four prosecutors to two, including herself.

DiGiacomo said the Attorney General’s Office agreed to the request on Oct. 9 “because of the lack of resources” in her office. Two prosecutors with the Attorney General’s Office filed their formal appearances in the case on Jan. 13, according to court records.

“The Attorney General’s Office agreed to appoint two prosecutors to handle the Cranston homicide case because at the time the District Attorney’s Office had only two attorneys,” DiGiacomo told the Erie Times-News on Tuesday.

Members of the Amish community and local law enforcement outside the Byler home, Feb. 26, 2024. Image: Fox 66 News

They have since made up most of the loss in staffing, but the state will remain in charge of the case:

DiGiacomo said the departure of two prosecutors in her office over the summer dropped the number of prosecutors to two.

Since she made the request that the Attorney General’s Office take over the Cranston case, DiGiacomo said, she has hired a full- and a part-time prosecutor, bringing the staffing level in her office to 3½ prosecutors.

DiGiacomo said she needs all the staff, including herself, to cover cases in three courtrooms at the Crawford County Judicial Center in Meadville, as well cases in juvenile court and at four district justice offices in the county.

Jury selection is March 11; Trial to “begin immediately after”

One piece of good news in this report: there is no suggestion here of another delay in the trial. The trial is described as “scheduled for March”. And according to this scheduling order from October:

Jury selection is scheduled for March 11
The trial “will begin immediately after jury selection”
The trial is expected to last from five to seven days

The most recent posted document at the County’s “Commonwealth v. Shawn C. Cranston” page informs of a Pretrial Conference scheduled for February 24, 2025.

So I’d expect we might get more news following that. The State has appointed two individuals to handle media inquiries in the case.

Rebekah Byler Case Timeline

It’s been nearly a year since Rebekah Byler was found murdered in her northwest PA home on February 26, 2024. Rebekah left behind husband Andy and two young children, among other family.

Cranston was soon after identified as a suspect and arrested. He had a preliminary hearing last March, in which it was learned he once drove for the Amish.

Two weeks later, unsealed court documents revealed further details about the accused, including his erratic behavior around the Amish, burned evidence found at Cranston’s home, and his membership in an “outlaw” biker gang.

Two delays have since occurred in the planned trial date, once in May of last year, and again in October.

But assuming no further changes, it appears the trial may happen as soon as six weeks from now.