Realtor's Attorney: Lower Merion Police Won't Hand Over Video

In the latest turn in an increasingly bizarre case, the attorney of Jonathan and Andrea Straub—the Haverford realtors who police say threw dead animals in their neighbor's driveway while the woman was trying to sell her Booth Lane home—says Lower Merion Police are refusing to release evidence he claims would prove his clients' innocence. 

Attorney George Bochetto had scheduled a press conference for Tuesday in which he promised he would dispel some of the "horrible falsities" he says have been reported about his client, but cancelled the event on Monday, citing a lack of cooperation from authorities. 

"We are extremely dismayed that the Lower Merion Police Department still has not released any requested information in this matter, including its police report and the grainy video which unnamed Lower Merion law enforcement officials are citing as the linchpin of their case against the Straubs," Bochetto wrote.      

Bochetto said that "multiple written requests" for the tape have been made and now a subpoena is being served to township police and other officers. 

Lower Merion public information officer Tom Walsh said the township has no comment on the matter. 

According to Lower Merion Police, the Straubs and the victim live next-door to one another on the 100 block of Booth Lane in the Haverford section of Lower Merion. Both the Straubs and their neighbor have their homes up for sale.

Lower Merion Police say they have video of the Straubs throwing snakes and dead mice in their neighbor's driveway, plus additional tape of the couple knocking over "for sale" signs and cutting branches off trees on the property.  

The Straubs were cited for disorderly conduct on June 20, at which point police say they admitted to the vandalism. 

Bochetto is challenging this account, and says the video will prove it.

"We implore Lower Merion Township police to provide this basic information immediately so that the public can finally see what we already know:  there is no truth to these outrageous allegations and the Straubs have been wrongly vilified."