Misericordia students to host Autism Speaks U Sensory Winter Wonderland

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King’s students receive Peyton Walker Foundation Scholarship

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The fight resumed Tuesday in a city mother&#8217;s bid to see charges she tried to kill herself and her two children dropped on claims her right to a fair trial was shattered because county prosecutors lost and tampered with crucial evidence.</p><p>Melissa Ann Scholl, 33, of Blackman Street, faces two counts of attempted homicide on charges she tried to asphyxiate herself and her children, then ages 5 and 7, by running a garden hose from her car&#8217;s exhaust pipe into the vehicle&#8217;s window as the family sat parked at the Williams Bus Line in Wilkes-Barre Township on Dec. 9, 2015.</p><p>&#8220;Die for something special,&#8221; the mother allegedly told her children.</p><p>A motion filed earlier this month that sought to have Scholl&#8217;s charges tossed brought heightened publicity to the case and set off a contentious spat between Scholl&#8217;s attorney and a top county prosecutor that began on paper and carried into the courtroom.</p><p>Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas, at the conclusion of a sometimes heated hearing Nov. 16 at which Larry Kansky and First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce berated one another for attacking their character, gave the parties 10 days to lodge a formal legal argument.</p><p>In a brief filed Monday in Luzerne County Court, Kansky reiterated claims prosecutors lost Scholl&#8217;s car, noting ACT Towing in Wilkes-Barre Township and the township&#8217;s mayor, Carl Kuren, were told the investigation was over and the towing company &#8220;could do anything they wished with (Scholl&#8217;s car).&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;This information suggests that (Scholl&#8217;s) car was willfully not properly preserved by the commonwealth, and therefore the commonwealth&#8217;s conduct can be classified as &#8216;bad faith,&#8217;&#8221; Kansky wrote in a 19-page filing requesting the charges be dropped entirely.</p><p>Officials said the car&#8217;s destruction remains the subject of an ongoing state police investigation.</p><p>Scholl&#8217;s defense, meanwhile, is hampered because Kansky can&#8217;t arrange for an independent forensic examination of the car, he argued. He noted Scholl&#8217;s children were found after the incident to be in good health &#8220;with no levels of vehicular exhaust fume in their bodies.&#8221; Such evidence was also not found at the scene, Kansky argued.</p><p>Kansky further alleges investigators, including Sanguedolce, contaminated two garden hoses when they handled the evidence with their bare hands. Sanguedolce has denied handling the items.</p><p>Those facts, Kansky wrote, are key to demonstrating Scholl&#8217;s intent to commit murder and whether she &#8220;took &#8216;a substantial step&#8217;&#8221; to kill, and would have been proven true had the vehicle remained intact.</p><p>&#8220;This said evidence exonerates and supports (Scholl) that she had no intent to murder her children, and that she took no substantial steps to murder her children, because (she) knew her vehicle&#8217;s engine was not running and that (she) knew the alleged garden hoses were completely harmless,&#8221; Kansky wrote.</p><p>Lupas is expected to issue a ruling at a later date.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Melissa Ann Scholl resumed this week her fight to have her attempted homicide charges dropped on allegations prosecutors lost or tampered with crucial evidence. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL121015scholl1-15.jpg</photo0><caption0>Melissa Ann Scholl resumed this week her fight to have her attempted homicide charges dropped on allegations prosecutors lost or tampered with crucial evidence. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Attorney: Lost vehicle, mishandled evidence violate due process</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Melissa Scholl resumes fight to have attempted homicide charges dropped