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Consultant: I conspired with AG to frame aide

<p>HARRISBURG &#8212; The Pennsylvania Superior Court has denied convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski&#8217;s request for a new trial, affirming the decisions a Luzerne County judge made in the case.</p><p>A three-judge panel on Thursday issued an opinion affirming the decisions of Judge Fred Pierantoni III, who oversaw Selenski&#8217;s January 2015 trial in the May 2002 strangulation killings of Michael J. Kerkowski and Tammy Lynn Fassett, whose bodies were unearthed from a shallow grave outside Selenski&#8217;s Kingston Township residence in June 2003.</p><p>A jury in February 2015 decided Selenski should serve life in prison after finding him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.</p><p>The following month, Pierantoni formally sentenced Selenski to serve two consecutive life sentences for the murders, plus 56 to 120 years in state prison on conspiracy and robbery charges. He is to serve that sentence consecutive to a 32&#189;- to 65-year sentence he was already serving for a January 2003 home-invasion robbery.</p><p>Selenski had appealed to Superior Court on the following grounds:</p><p>&#8226; His right to choice of counsel was violated when Pierantoni granted prosecutors&#8217; request to disqualify Selenski&#8217;s attorney, Shelly Centini, from representing him after developing &#8220;a strong attorney-client relationship&#8221; with her over two years.</p><p>The panel of Superior Court judges noted that the state Attorney General had charged Centini and private investigator James Sulima with witness intimidation in connection with Selenski&#8217;s case. Although the charges were dismissed in June 2014, the Superior Court judges agreed that Pierantoni was correct in siding with prosecutors, who argued that Selenski was entitled to counsel, but &#8220;not to taxpayer-funded counsel of choice.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226; Prosecutors failed to disclose impeachment evidence regarding prosecution witness Christina Strom, namely that they had agreed to advocate for her at her delayed federal sentencing hearing and that a motion to reduce her sentencing based upon her cooperation had been filed back in 2007.</p><p>The panel found that defense counsel cross-examined Strom about her reduced sentencing, so even though prosecutors didn&#8217;t turn over that information pre-trial, the result of the proceeding would not have been different even if they had.</p><p>&#8226; Pierantoni failed to provide after the introduction of alleged co-conspirator Paul Weakley &#8220;an appropriate and timely cautionary instruction&#8221; to the jury that Weakley&#8217;s guilty plea could not be used as evidence against Selenski.</p><p>The panel found that because Selenski&#8217;s attorneys did not challenge the adequacy of the jury instruction or object to the judge&#8217;s jury charge during the trial, the issue could not be raised on appeal.</p><p>&#8226; Pierantoni allowed the prosecution to introduce former preliminary hearing testimony of deceased witness Ernest Culp because he could not be cross-examined at trial.</p><p>The panel concluded that the defense had &#8220;a full and fair opportunity&#8221; to cross-examine Culp at Selenski&#8217;s preliminary hearing.</p><p>&#8226; Pierantoni allowed the prosecution&#8217;s forensic pathologist to offer expert testimony regarding alleged blunt force trauma on Kerkowski&#8217;s body that was based on hearsay facts supplied by Weakley, the prosecution&#8217;s chief witness.</p><p>The panel concluded that the pathologist&#8217;s testimony was not based on hearsay facts but on his personal observations and on the record testimony of Weakley.</p><p>&#8226; Pierantoni denied a defense request for a mistrial after Strom testified that Selenski went to a police station to &#8220;talk about a robbery&#8221; after prosecutors were specifically admonished from introducing said testimony.</p><p>The panel found that even if the jury could infer that Selenski was implicating himself in a robbery based on Strom&#8217;s testimony, Pierantoni had advised the jury to disregard the testimony. </p><p>&#8226; Pierantoni allowed a sitting Common Pleas Court judge to testify for the prosecution, when the testimony &#8220;was irrelevant and highly prejudicial, as it gave the appearance of using the prestige of his office to advance the credibility of and bolster the Commonwealth&#8217;s case.&#8221;</p><p>The panel said it could &#8220;discern no abuse&#8221; of Pierantoni&#8217;s discretion in permitting Wyoming County Judge Brendan Vanston to testify as a fact witness regarding Selenski&#8217;s behavior at a criminal trial for Kerkowski &#8220;under the unique circumstances of this case.&#8221;</p><p>Selenski is serving out his sentence at State Correctional Institute Forest in Forest County, according to state prison records.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hugo Selenski motions to reporters shouting questions as he was escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse following his double-murder conviction on Feb. 11, 2015. Selenski on Thursday lost an appeal filed in Pennsylvania Superior Court seeking a new trial. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Selenski_hugo-afterConvictionFeb2015.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hugo Selenski motions to reporters shouting questions as he was escorted from the Luzerne County Courthouse following his double-murder conviction on Feb. 11, 2015. Selenski on Thursday lost an appeal filed in Pennsylvania Superior Court seeking a new trial. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Pa. Superior Court rejects murderer Hugo Selenski’s request for new trial