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First Posted: 4/12/2013 WILKES-BARRE &#8211; On the same day that the defense team for accused murderer Hugo Selenski doubled in size, the lawyers filed another an appeal to the state Superior Court regarding not being paid for representing their client.
Attorneys Shelley Centini and Edward Rymsza as well as newly acquired attorneys Bruce Merenstein and Samuel Silver, both of Philadelphia, filed an appeal to the high court after Luzerne County Judge Fred Pierantoni set a cap on funding for Selenski&#8217;s representation and denied any further payment until a trial is held.
Selenski is awaiting trial in the May 2002 deaths of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett, both 38. Their bodies were unearthed from the property where Selenski was living in Kingston Township in June 2003.
Merenstein and Silver entered their appearance as Selenski&#8217;s newest co-counsel &#8220;for the limited purpose&#8221; of the appeal that accompanied Friday&#8217;s filings.
Last week, Centini and Rymsza asked to be removed from Selenski&#8217;s case, citing they haven&#8217;t been paid for legal work since October. Pierantoni scheduled a hearing on that request for April 18.
In court papers, the attorneys say they both agreed to hourly rates that were an &#8220;enormous concession&#8221; in that they were much less than they would have charged a private client. The original court order that appointed Centini to defend Selenski says she was to earn $85 per hour without benefits with a cap of $40,000 &#8212; equal to about 470 hours of work.
The attorneys met a cap set by Pierantoni and made subsequent requests for more pay. In October 2012, the attorneys said, Pierantoni made a &#8220;final cap&#8221; &#8212; stopping any further payment.
On March 13, a hearing was held in which Pierantoni made alterations to payments the attorneys would receive, with Centini getting $400 a day during a jury trial for Selenski and Rymsza $300 a day.
But those changes did not include &#8220;significant sums of money owed to (Centini and Rymsza) for their hourly work already performed from October to the present&#8221; and that they will not receive &#8220;one further dollar until the first day of trial,&#8221; their filing states.
The appeal Silver and Merenstein will be handling with Centini and Rymsza addresses a denial to amend a budget for Selenski&#8217;s case and the &#8220;final cap&#8221; set by Pierantoni.
The attorneys also filed an &#8220;in forma pauperis&#8221; statement Friday, which means &#8220;in the character or manner of a pauper.&#8221; The status entitles a person to waive costs of filing court documents and sometimes in criminal cases, the appointment of counsel.
&#8220;(Selenski) was originally approved for court-appointed representation in this case,&#8221; the filing states. &#8220;(Selenski) remains incarcerated. Counsel is aware of no substantial change in (Selenski&#8217;s) financial condition since such date.&#8221;
Records from the Luzerne County Controller&#8217;s Office show $90,869 has been paid to Centini since she was appointed by the court in January 2012.

Selenski’s defense attorneys again appeal for further payment