A Murrysville lawyer was acquitted Friday of criminal charges that arose from an alleged road rage incident nearly three years ago.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger issued not guilty verdicts on a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment and one summary offense for careless driving.
Prosecutors contended Brad Funari, 49, a partner at the Reed Smith law firm in Pittsburgh, attempted to run his then-estranged wife and her father off the road near her Murrysville home amid a contentious custody battle that continues years after the Sept. 4, 2023, incident.
“It’s great that a court saw this for what it was,” said Funari’s defense attorney, Mike DeRiso. “This is a victory for fathers who are in the middle of a custody fight and where the other side uses their position to get an advantage in the custody case.”
The Funaris separated in 2023 after 19 years of marriage and, according to trial testimony, have been engaged in a lengthy and heated custody dispute ever since.
Funari was the lone witness to testify in the two-day nonjury trial, in which he called the incident that led to the criminal charges a “non-event.”
He contended his now-former wife and her father fabricated testimony as part of the custody dispute and that they, along with Murrysville police, conspired to hinder his position in the ongoing proceedings involving the couple’s five children.
Murrysville police did not testify during Funari’s criminal trial.
Mira Gornick and her father testified that as she drove toward her home, Funari obstructed their path and later initiated what they feared would be a head-on collision, which they said they barely avoided by swerving off the road. Funari, with two children riding as passengers, approached the Gornicks’ vehicle, made an obscene gesture and later that night taunted them in a text message, they claimed.
Funari testified those events did not happen. He testified he was parked near his estranged wife’s home to retrieve items for his children and later drove behind the Gornicks’ vehicle as it slowly traveled down the road.
Westmoreland County prosecutors contended a 911 call the Gornicks made from their car during the incident bolstered their testimony.
“The verdict does not mean that the incidents did not occur. It simply means that the highest burden of proof in our legal system was not met today,” said Pauline Calabrese, who serves as Gornick’s attorney in the custody battle.