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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The son of a mother on trial for allegedly trying to asphyxiate the 9-year-old and his younger sister with exhaust fumes testified Wednesday that while his mother wanted to snuff out her own life, she didn&#8217;t want to harm him.</p><p>Prosecutors said Melissa Ann Scholl belted Julian, then 7, and Vera Scholl, then 5, into the backseat of her car in December 2015, drove them to a secluded area of Williams Bus Line in Wilkes-Barre Township and strung a garden hose from the exhaust pipe to a window not as &#8220;a cry for help or a stunt,&#8221; but as part of a &#8220;calculated plan&#8221; to kill all three of them.</p><p>&#8220;Melissa Scholl made a plan,&#8221; prosecutor Angela Sperrazza told the jury during opening statements. &#8220;She calculated a strategy to not just end the life of herself but the life of her two children.&#8221;</p><p>But Scholl&#8217;s son, Julian, appeared to contradict prosecutors&#8217; argument, testifying on cross-examination by defense attorney Larry Kansky his mother wanted his grandparents to come get the siblings because she &#8220;didn&#8217;t want to harm us in any way.&#8221;</p><p>The first witness in the 33-year-old city mother&#8217;s trial, Julian said he recalled Scholl saying she wanted to kill herself the day of the incident. He also remembered his mother had a hose through the window of her car and &#8220;a bottle of something&#8221; the night bus driver Robert Shinal came upon the scene and called 911.</p><p>The jury saw two videos of Julian in the week that followed the alleged murder-suicide attempt.</p><p>In one of the recordings, the child can be seen coloring on a white poster board while describing the incident to a forensic interviewer. He said his mother told him &#8220;this might be the last time I&#8217;ll ever kiss you and hug you.&#8221;</p><p>Julian said his mother&#8217;s words &#8220;made me pretty sad.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I just want to be together,&#8221; he said in the interview.</p><p>Shinal told the jury he saw a hose leading out of the exhaust and into a window. The car wasn&#8217;t running at the time and two children were belted into the backseat, he said. A bottle of wine was on the passenger&#8217;s seat, he added.</p><p>After Scholl gave Shinal her keys, the two shared a brief conversation, he said.</p><p>&#8220;I just asked her why she&#8217;s doing this with two beautiful children,&#8221; said Shinal. &#8220;She just said she can&#8217;t do it on her own.&#8221;</p><p>Kansky said the incident was indeed a cry for help, and &#8220;that&#8217;s all it was.&#8221;</p><p>He argued prosecutors can&#8217;t prove the hoses were connected to Scholl&#8217;s car in a way that would have caused death or serious bodily injury because the vehicle was scrapped before he had a chance to examine it. He promised &#8220;interesting evidence&#8221; about the hoses.</p><p>Before the case went to trial, Kansky filed multiple motions to have his client&#8217;s charges dismissed on claims her defense was disadvantaged because of destroyed, misplaced or tainted evidence &#8212; specifically Scholl&#8217;s car and the garden hoses.</p><p>Another motion, meanwhile, claimed a suitcase, two pillows and a blanket were missing from the vehicle.</p><p>Prosecutors denied wrongdoing, but acknowledged Scholl&#8217;s car appears to have been destroyed by ACT Truck &amp; Trailer in Wilkes-Barre Township without authorization. Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas denied the motions.</p><p>Testimony will resume Thursday.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_SchollStandalone-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Scholl </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_SchollStandalone-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Scholl </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></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 Ann Scholl’s son, 9, says mom wanted to kill herself, not kids