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Out on a limb: Uncovering Polish roots in NEPA

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; More than two years after 24-year-old Vaughn Kemp was gunned down, his alleged killer is set to go to trial.</p><p>Barring last-minute delays, Joshua Carlos Ovalles, 21, will face an open count of criminal homicide today in a bench, or non-jury, trial before Luzerne County Judge Thomas F. Burke. He is accused of pulling the trigger on July 7, 2013, and killing Kemp outside a city residence.</p><p>Kemp died of multiple gunshot wounds.</p><p>Ovalles waived his right to a trial by jury in June 2014, and reaffirmed his waiver last Monday. At the hearing, he redacted &#8220;not guilty&#8221; from a waiver document and handwrote the word &#8220;innocent,&#8221; announcing to Burke that he pleads &#8220;innocent, not not guilty.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Absent witness</strong></p><p>Prosecutors are likely to introduce as evidence the transcribed testimony of a witness who appeared at a preliminary hearing, but has since left Wilkes-Barre and returned to the Dominican Republic.</p><p>Through a Spanish interpreter, Eric Rodriguez testified in August 2013 to having heard gunfire and looking out a window to see Ovalles holding a handgun and yelling.</p><p>Burke initially ruled the testimony inadmissable, but state Superior Court judges overturned the decision in May, saying city police did all they could to locate Rodriguez.</p><p>A second witness, Raymond Duval, also testified in district court, saying he was talking to a friend and ran when Ovalles fired rounds into the air. He said he did not know what happened to Kemp.</p><p>Ovalles&#8217; attorney, Peter J. Moses, previously has said that the fact no one has testified to seeing his client shoot at Kemp supports the man&#8217;s claim of innocence.</p><p>Rodriguez and Duval were among 25 to 30 people attending a party at 174 South Grant St. when Kemp was shot.</p><p>The residence appeared briefly in the news earlier this year, when reports surfaced that then-district judge candidate Jared Martin Kane&#8217;s Republican nomination petition contained a signature from an individual purported to live at the address.</p><p>The double-block structure had been condemned since August 2013, declared unfit for human habitation due to &#8220;infestation.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Phone records sought</strong></p><p>Prosecutors also have been seeking phone call recordings from two state correctional institutions where Ovalles has been lodged.</p><p>Judge David W. Lupas quickly issued orders late last month for SCI Dallas and SCI Forest to turn over recordings of any phone calls made to or by Ovalles from March 2014 until July of this year.</p><p>A gag order prohibits involved attorneys from making any public comments about the case.</p><p>Ovalles already is serving a 20-to-40-year sentence for attempted homicide, aggravated assault and other charges for the Jan. 9, 2013, shooting of Michael Kubiak.</p><p>The shooting occurred while Kubiak and Ovalles were driving to buy heroin in Wilkes-Barre. Kubiak drove himself to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and later identified Ovalles from photos shown to him by police.</p><p>Kemp&#8217;s death occurred while Ovalles was free on bail in the Kubiak case.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_Joshua-Ovalles1-8-21-132.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ovalles </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_Joshua-Ovalles1-8-21-132.jpg</photo0><caption0>Ovalles </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By James O&#8217;Malley</p><p>jomalley@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Homicide trial set to start in 2013 Wilkes-Barre shooting death