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First Posted: 2/10/2014 WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The state Attorney General&#8217;s Office is seeking a jury trial &#8220;at the earliest possible date&#8221; in a 5-year-old traffic death case after state Superior Court rejected the defendant&#8217;s request to appeal an order barring use of the insanity defense.
Megan Panowicz is charged with a felony count of leaving the scene of an accident that caused the death of 32-year-old Sharon Shaughnessy on Aug. 27, 2008.
Shaughnessy was crossing Wyoming Avenue near Pierce Street in Kingston when, authorities believe, she was first struck by a vehicle driven by Panowicz, and then by two additional cars driven by Rosemarie Chismar and Linda A. Giordano.
In November, a senior judge specially presiding in Luzerne County Court tossed out a mental insanity defense by Panowicz, whose attorneys &#8212; Basil Russin and her father, Robert Panowicz &#8212; last summer claimed Panowicz experienced &#8220;post traumatic stress&#8221; when she allegedly pulled to the side of Wyoming Avenue and saw Shaughnessy being struck by two other vehicles.
Centre County Senior Judge Charles C. Brown Jr. ruled prosecutors need to prove to jurors only that Panowicz was aware she allegedly struck another person with her vehicle and any actions afterwards are irrelevant.
Panowicz&#8217;s trial that was scheduled to begin Dec. 3 was continued indefinitely due to an appeal of Brown&#8217;s order to state Superior Court.
Lawyers with the Attorney General&#8217;s Office are prosecuting Panowicz due to a conflict with county District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, who was formerly employed by attorney Panowicz
A motion for trial listing filed Monday by Deputy Attorney General Clarke Madden noted that the Superior Court late last month denied Panowicz&#8217;s permission to appeal an interlocutory order, and requested Brown to set a trial date.

State seeks jury trial in ‘08 fatal hit-run