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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A judge has denied a defense motion to suppress the findings of a search warrant and two statements made by the defendant in a capital murder case over the slaying of an elderly Nanticoke woman five years ago.</p><p>Anthony Spudis, 36, is facing an open count of criminal homicide along with counts of burglary and robbery after he allegedly broke into the Nanticoke home of Gertrude Price, 97, on Nov. 28, 2013. Prosecutors say he stabbed Price several times in the head in what has been characterized as a burglary turned violent, and they are pursuing the death penalty in the case.</p><p>Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley on Friday issued an order denying suppression motions filed by the defense regarding:</p><p>&#8226; A search warrant that was conducted on the home Spudis lived in at the time of the robbery. The search in question was conducted in 2017, years after he moved out.</p><p>&#8226; Statements made by Spudis to investigators on two occasions in 2017.</p><p>In the ceiling boards of the home&#8217;s basement, police say they found a bag containing items that belonged to Price, including numerous pieces of mail with her name and family photographs.</p><p>During a suppression hearing held in April of this year, Pennsylvania State Trooper Edward Urban testified that while the bag was missed during a search in 2014, photos from that search show it poking out of the ceiling.</p><p>At the hearing, defense attorney Robert Saurman focused on inconsistencies in the filing of the search warrant, namely that the search warrant states it was for a home located at 2 E. Union St., Nanticoke, when the search was actually conducted at 2 W. Union St. Urban characterized this as a typographical error.</p><p><strong>Search warrant</strong></p><p>Regarding the search warrant, the defense contended that the underlying affidavit gave no indication &#8220;that the items from the crime would likely have been stored at the defendant&#8217;s former home or that they would still be there four years after the defendant left the residence,&#8221; the judge wrote.</p><p>In response, Gartley noted that investigators observed the bag, later found to contain Price&#8217;s belongings, after meeting with confidential witnesses at the West Union Street residence on Aug. 7, 2017, and that they compared it with photos from 2014 showing it partially hanging between the ceiling boards.</p><p>Even if the search warrant was deemed defective, the judge continued, Nanticoke police obtained a consent to search the building from the property owner as well as the tenants living in the property at the time of the search.</p><p>She further referred to the issue of East Union Street vs. West Union Street to be &#8220;meritless.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Defendant&#8217;s statements</strong></p><p>Spudis was charged Dec. 20, 2017 &#8212; more than four years after Price was killed &#8212; after investigators received information from inmates housed with him.</p><p>Spudis was then serving seven-and-a-half to 15 years in state prison on multiple burglaries and thefts in the Nanticoke area in 2013 and 2014, according to court records.</p><p>His attorney sought to have statements the incarcerated Spudis made to investigators on July 11, 2017 and Aug. 10, 2017 suppressed.</p><p>According to Gartley, Spudis had been given Miranda warnings, but the question was whether it was clear to him that he had the right to refuse the interviews.</p><p>Gartley wrote that &#8220;there is no evidence that the defendant was anything but alert and coherent when he made his statements and his mental faculties and ability to answer questions were unimpaired.&#8221;</p><p>The judge noted that the Miranda warnings given to Spudis on both dates were read from a standard state police form, which he signed in the presence of two troopers, and that both interviews were audio-recorded.</p><p>Further, the judge noted, Spudis &#8220;was clearly aware that he was being questioned first regarding the unsolved burglaries and then about the homicide of Ms. Price.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;The argument &#8230; regarding the defendant believing that the interviews were being conducted for a possible parole issue is disingenuous,&#8221; Gartley wrote. &#8220;The defendant never inquired about anything related to parole.&#8221;</p><p>At the April hearing Gartley agreed to push Spudis&#8217;s trial back from May of this year to Jan. 6, 2020 at the request of Saurman, who said the defense team needed more time to prepare.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Anthony Spudis is seen in police custody in 2017 after being arrested in connection with the 2013 slaying of Gertrude Price, 97, inside her Nanticoke home. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_TTL122217Arrest2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Anthony Spudis is seen in police custody in 2017 after being arrested in connection with the 2013 slaying of Gertrude Price, 97, inside her Nanticoke home. </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Roger DuPuis</p><p>rdupuis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Judge refuses to suppress warrant, statements in Nanticoke homicide case