Mistrial denied on day 1 of Harvel trial

Dec. 8—Defense attorneys sought a mistrial in the federal criminal trial against former Cumberland County Solid Waste Director Michael Harvel Wednesday, the first day of testimony.

The motion was denied, though Judge William Campbell Jr. did instruct the jury to disregard a statement by the witness.

The witness, one of eight women accusing Harvel of sexual harassment and assault, was testifying that she had told Harvel she had dealt with "problems" when she was a child and that she did not want to go through that again.

It is the policy of the Crossville Chronicle not to identify victims of sexual assault.

Harvel's defense team had argued the day before that testimony regarding prior sexual abuse was irrelevant, and disclosure of child sexual abuse highly prejudicial.

Prosecutors said the testimony was intended to show Harvel was made aware advances to the victim were unwelcome.

Campbell had ruled that testimony could be offered on prior assault, though he said the specifics — particularly allegations of child sex abuse — risked being too prejudicial.

After the witness made her statement, Campbell asked the jury to leave and recessed to consider the motion for a mistrial.

Campbell told attorneys he believed the issue could be resolved with jury instructions and that a mistrial was not necessary.

When the jury returned, Campbell told them to disregard all comments from the witness immediately prior to the jury being taken out of the courtroom.

The trial began the day before with jury selection. A jury of 10 women and six men was seated shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Wednesday opened with a juror informing the court service on the jury for the two-week trial would pose a significant financial hardship.

Campbell noted there had been multiple opportunities to share that concern the day before, when the rest of the jury pool was present. Yet the juror did not speak up.

After speaking with the juror and hearing from the attorneys — all of whom agreed to move forward with one less alternate juror — Campbell released the juror from service.

"This case is getting off to a slow start," the judge said.

Next, the prosecution outlined their case in an opening statement.

They said testimony from witnesses would show Harvel sexually abused women who worked at the recycling center and used his authority as the solid waste director and a prominent member of the community to keep them from reporting his actions.

Laura Bernstein with the U.S. Attorney's Office said many of the women went to the recycling center to complete court-ordered community service and stayed because they needed a steady job.

Harvel, she said, had "a lot of power, and very little oversight" and the women believed no one would believe them due to past criminal history or drug use.

The 10-count indictment includes allegations of sexual assault involving eight women, with accusations of kidnapping, causing bodily injury and aggravated sexual abuse.

But defense attorney Patrick McNally told jurors, "There's two sides to every story."

He noted the case rests on the testimony of the women, with no forensic evidence. He said there were inconsistencies in their accounts and delayed allegations had meant surveillance footage had been destroyed before the investigation began.

Many of the counts in the indictment related to allegations from 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Harvel was indicted on state charges of official misconduct, sexual battery and assault in February 2018. Those charges are currently on hold pending the federal criminal trial.

Harvel was indicted on the federal charges in July 2021.

There was also a financial incentive for the allegations, the defense attorney said, with several of the women collecting large settlements from a civil lawsuit against the county.

Four witnesses testified in the government's case on Wednesday, including three women accusing Harvel of inappropriate touching and sexual assault.

The defense is expected to start calling witnesses next week.

The trial is expected to last through next week.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.