Stalking trial winds down without accused testifying

ACCUSED STALKER John Hart kept everyone waiting until the last minute yesterday, changing his mind several times before opting not to testify in his Philadelphia trial on charges he stalked CBS3 news anchor Erika von Tiehl in 2011 after she broke off their brief relationship.

Hart's final decision closed a brief defense. The day ended with closing arguments.

Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright told the jury of seven men and five women to return this morning for instructions in the law and deliberations.

Hart, 39, of Havertown, is charged with stalking, identity theft, possession of an instrument of crime - his cellphone and two computers - and two counts of using computers to disrupt communications services.

Von Tiehl testified last week that she briefly dated Hart in late 2011 after he introduced himself to her on Facebook. She said she ended the relationship after five dates because she felt Hart wanted a serious, long-term relationship.

A week later, von Tiehl testified, she began receiving anonymous text messages threatening to damage her career, and her cellphone number and her social-media passwords were changed.

The jury also heard last week from another ex-girlfriend, Laura Selvage of Baltimore, who testified about a similar experience earlier in 2011 when she broke off with Hart after three dates.

Hart is not charged with crimes involving Selvage. Assistant District Attorney Lauren Katona told the jury Selvage's testimony demonstrated a pattern of conduct by Hart that corroborated von Tiehl's allegations.

Hart's conduct has been volatile since he was arrested in November 2011. He hired and fired several lawyers, represented himself for more than a year and then hired defense attorney Jack McMahon this year for the trial.

During trial, Hart and McMahon have had several loud arguments over strategy, including whether he should testify.

Hart plainly wanted to testify, but doing so would have allowed Katona to question him about past convictions for similar crimes, including a 2006 guilty plea to simple assault and stalking in Delaware County for which he was sentenced to 18 to 48 months in prison followed by five years' probation.

McMahon's defense focused on three witnesses - a longtime friend of Hart's family, his uncle and a former girlfriend - who all testified that they could not say if the recorded voice of a man imitating a woman was Hart's.

The recording is of a 2011 Verizon Wireless service call in which a person using a falsetto voice and claiming to be von Tiehl requests that her cellphone number be changed.

In testimony last week, von Tiehl, Selvage and Hart's former parole officer all identified the recorded voice as Hart's.

In his closing argument, McMahon told the jury there was no evidence to corroborate von Tiehl's identification of Hart's voice and no evidence from his computers showing he had von Tiehl's Social Security Number or other information to enable him to sabotage her accounts.

He challenged the credibility of von Tiehl and Selvage and accused von Tiehl of embellishing her story since first talking to detectives.

Katona argued that the strongest evidence against Hart was that the harassment of von Tiehl began one week after they broke up and ended with his arrest in November 2011.

Katona added that it would have been easy for Hart to hide personal details he learned about von Tiehl from detectives: "He knows what he is doing because he's done it before."