SCRANTON – The parents of a man who committed a murderous attack against a Pennsylvania State Police barracks in 2014 are now taking legal action against the state police and other law enforcement entities, for what they feel was an unlawful seizure of their cache of firearms.
Eugene Michael Frein and Deborah Frein of Canadensis filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on June 10 versus the Pennsylvania State Police of Harrisburg, plus the Pike County District Attorney’s Office, Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin and John/Jane Does I-V, all of Milford.
The plaintiffs are the parents of Eric Frein, who shot and killed Pennsylvania State Trooper Byron K. Dickson II and wounded Pennsylvania State Trooper Alex Douglass on Sept. 12, 2014, at a State Police barracks in Blooming Groove.
After 48-day manhunt, Frein was captured at an abandoned airport in the Poconos on Oct. 30, 2014.
On April 19, 2017, Frein was found guilty on the slew of charges he faced, which included first-degree murder and attempted murder, and then on April 27, Frein was formally sentenced to death by lethal injection. Frein now awaits execution on death row at SCI-Greene, a maximum security state prison.
The plaintiffs’ lawsuit hearkens back to Sept. 16, 2014, when the Pennsylvania State Police executed a search warrant at their Monroe County home, in Canadensis.
During the execution of the warrant, authorities seized a long list of weapons and technology belonging to the plaintiffs – including 19 pistols, 25 rifles, two shotguns, ammunition and reloading supplies, camera memory cards, compact discs, two IBM laptops, one VHS camcorder and videotape.
“The aforementioned property had no evidentiary value in the criminal case against Eric Frein and was not used in his criminal trial. Even if such evidence were utilized, Eric Frein has lost his direct appeal. The United State Supreme Court has denied review. This property belongs to plaintiffs, not Eric Frein,” the suit states.
“This property was not contraband and was legally obtained, owned and used by plaintiffs. As of the filing of this complaint, defendants continue to hold the aforementioned property, despite requests for its return. Defendants have provided no compensation to plaintiffs as a result of taking their property. Defendants all continue to object to the return of plaintiffs’ property for no lawful or valid reason.”
For counts of civil rights violations for unlawful taking under the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, costs, injunctive relief directing return of the property and/or any other relief the Court deems just.
The plaintiffs are represented by Cornelius J. Rotteveel and Curt M. Parkins of Comerford Law, in Scranton.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:20-cv-00939
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com