DA’s office steps out of post-conviction hearings
Fayette County District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon said Wednesday that her office would bow out of post-conviction hearings concerning David J. Munchinski. Munchinski, 49, was convicted in 1986 of killing James P. Alford and Raymond P. Gierke at a Bear Rocks chalet in 1977. Since that second-degree murder conviction and the ensuing dual life sentences, Munchinski has sought appeals on several levels.
His latest, however, prompted President Judge William J. Franks to recuse the entire bench, and an out-of-county judge was appointed to hear testimony in a post-conviction proceeding Munchinski hoped would earn him a new trial.
That proceeding was scheduled to start earlier this month but was postponed when Munchinski’s attorney, Noah Geary, asked Fayette County prosecutors to step aside and let the attorney general’s office handle the case.
“I’m going to recuse our office because the court has already recused itself. I think we should follow suit,” Vernon said.
Geary said he intended to call both Franks and First Administrative Assistant District Attorney John A. Kopas III to testify about documents that reportedly were not turned over to Munchinski during a 1992 appeal that was ultimately denied.
Munchinski learned there were additional unreleased documents when he filed a federal appeal and directly subpoenaed state police records.
Geary said he intended to question Kopas to see if the prosecutor turned over the previously unreleased documents to Franks. Noting that Kopas’ honesty would be in question, Geary asked the office to hand the case over to the state attorney general.
Geary believes the documentation creates holes in the testimony of Richard Bowen, the key prosecution witness against Munchinski and Leon Scaglione. Bowen testified he was with the men the night of the murders, but a police report indicates he was in Oklahoma when Alford and Gierke were killed.
With the removal of county prosecutors, all additional court filings will be directed to the attorney general’s office.