Jury seated in trial of former B-A athletic director

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County jury was seated Wednesday for a former Bellwood-Antis School District athletic director who continues to fight a witness intimidation charge filed against him in January 2024.

Charles N. Burch, Bellwood, accused of telling a teenager in February 2020 not to talk about what was going on at wrestling practice or risk being suspended or benched from the football team, is now scheduled for a three-day trial starting May 14 at the courthouse.

At the time of the alleged threat, state police were investigating sexual assault allegations against then-middle school wrestling coach Ryan Blazier, who is currently incarcerated on a sentence of 21 to 42 years.

Burch, represented by defense attorney Thomas Hooper, presented witnesses during pre-trial history to reveal flaws within the teenager’s version as to when and where the conversation with Burch occurred.

Despite Hooper’s challenges, President Judge Wade A. Kagarise declined last year to dismiss the third-degree felony against Burch and said it would be up to the jury to evaluate the inconsistencies.

The state Office of Attorney General took that position in court and in court records to counter Hooper’s claim. It also amended the original charges to indicate that the alleged threat occurred on or about Feb. 19, 2020, and not Feb. 20, 2020, based on a cellphone record showing a call between the teenager and his mother.

The teenager will be expected to testify in Burch’s trial, although prosecutors last week filed a petition seeking Kagarise’s approval for allowing the witness to testify from a location outside the courtroom.

During Wednesday’s jury selection, several of the potential jurors reported having some knowledge about the case based on news reports. But Kagarise dismissed only four of the jurors who went to the bench to respond to a question as to whether they had formed an opinion based on what they heard or read.

When the judge asked the remaining jurors if they could be fair and impartial in evaluating Burch’s case, they indicated that they could.

Blair County also seated a jury earlier this month for a July trial for Timothy D. Andrekovich, the former head wrestling coach at Bellwood-Antis High School, on a third-degree felony charge of child endangerment. That charge is based on an accusation that he failed to observe a safety plan prohibiting Blazier from having unsupervised contact with children.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.