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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Once more, the trial for Anthony Spudis has been pushed back, with the defense team saying it needs more time to prepare in light of other trials.</p><p>The accused killer appeared before Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley for a motions hearing, with his court-appointed attorney, Robert Saurman, saying he is attached to homicide trials in both February and May.</p><p>Spudis&#8217; trial was originally set to begin in early January, but Saurman petitioned for more time due to his total trial load, and to give expert witnesses more time to prepare.</p><p>Spudis, 37, is facing an open count of criminal homicide, after he allegedly broke into the Nanticoke home of Gertrude Price on Nov. 28, 2013. Prosecutors say he stabbed Price, 97, 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>Spudis also faces burglary and robbery charges.</p><p>Assistant District Attorney Daniel Zola indicated in court on Monday that prosecutors would have no issue with the trial being continued once again, but he did say that his team would be ready to proceed at the previously scheduled trial date.</p><p>Gartley granted the defense team&#8217;s motion for continuance, rescheduling the trial to begin the week of Sept. 8, 2020.</p><p>Gartley blocked out a total of four weeks for the trial, expecting it to take longer to pick a jury as, if they chose to convict Spudis, the jury will then need to determine whether or not he deserves the death penalty.</p><p>Spudis was arrested in late December 2017, after two inmates at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility reported he talked about killing a woman in Nanticoke on Thanksgiving a few years previously.</p><p>Prosecutors say police found items at the home of Spudis&#8217; former girlfriend, Taryn Simms, that implicate him, including a screwdriver that is believed to have been the weapon used to kill Price. Other items from Price&#8217;s home also were found hidden in the rafters of Simms&#8217; home, prosecutors say.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Spudis </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_Anthony-Spudis-05112018.jpg</photo0><caption0>Spudis </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Spudis&#8217; defense team seeks more time</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Nanticoke homicide trial continued again, as defense team seeks more time