Munchinski’s attorneys say key documents were withheld from them
Two attorneys who defended convicted murderer David J. Munchinski at trial over the last 20 years testified Tuesday that documents that could have helped them prove his innocence were withheld from them. Munchinski, 51, is in court hoping to win a new trial or have two murder verdicts set aside in the 1977 slayings of Raymond Gierke and James Alford. Munchinski and Leon Scaglione allegedly raped and then shot the men to death. They were charged in 1982, and after a hung jury a year later, Munchinski was convicted at a second trial in 1986. He is serving two life sentences and has maintained his innocence.
Attorneys J. Alan Roth, who represented Munchinski in his 1983 trial, and Charles Gentile, who defended Munchinski in 1986, testified they did not receive multiple police reports, one of which says that the commonwealth’s star witness may have been in another state at the time of the killings.
The report says that Richard Bowen, who testified he was an eyewitness to the murders, was in Oklahoma when Alford and Gierke were killed. Police found that information when they went to serve a burglary warrant on Bowen, and a woman he knew told them he left for Oklahoma on Dec. 1, 1977. The murders were on Dec. 2.
Such a report “would have been extremely helpful to me in my trial,” said Roth. That case ended up in the hung jury.
Gentile agreed, noting that the information directly contradicted what Bowen testified to in 1986, when Munchinski was ultimately convicted.
Munchinski’s current attorney, Noah Geary, produced nine different documents that were not turned over to any defense attorney, but he claims should have been.
Those documents included:
– A police report from a woman who told police that another man confessed to the killing.
– A coroner’s report that indicated that anal intercourse occurred more than 24 hours before the deaths of Alford and Gierke.
– A pathology report that indicated the blood type of samples taken from Alford’s body was Type A. Munchinski is Type B. Both Gentile and Roth indicated that, although DNA testing was not available at the time, they would have done some type of testimony on the evidence.
– Evidence that Westmoreland County probation officers held off on filing probation revocations against Bowen in three cases at the request of Fayette County prosecutors because of his help in the murder case.
Those probation revocation filings also indicated that Bowen’s Fayette County cooperation could “solve” those violations, according to testimony. Roth testified he had been “suspicious” at the time of trial that Bowen was receiving more than immunity.
Both Gentile and Roth testified that they were only told that Bowen was offered immunity for his testimony and received no other favorable treatment.
– A report that indicated that Gierke died on a woman’s porch after he was shot. Roth testified that report was particularly significant because prosecutors brought in an expert who testified that Gierke would have died instantly from the gunshot.
– Conflicting statements from two prisoners, who both indicated the other was involved in the murder. One of the prisoners indicated that the murder occurred in 1972 or 1973, according to testimony elicited by Deputy Attorney General Jonelle Harter.
“If we had these reports in conjunction with the other documents, I think we could have won our trial,” said Roth, who testified that people make mistakes with dates often.
Former President Judge William J. Franks, now a senior judge, testified that he agreed that the evidence should have been turned over to the defense attorneys. However, Franks could not recall if the documents were turned over to him as he requested during a 1992 post-conviction hearing for Munchinski.
During that hearing, Franks ordered Assistant District Attorney John A. Kopas III to turn over the complete police file on Munchinski as well as three files related to Bowen. Franks reviewed the files in a private hearing and then turned over additional material to Munchinski’s attorney at the time.
The documents Geary introduced on Tuesday were not included, but Geary has contended they should have been.
“Had Mr. Kopas provided you all the items he was supposed to, you might have granted Mr. Munchinski relief 10 years ago?” questioned Geary.
“I may have. I may have not,” replied Franks.
He also testified under questioning from Harter that prosecutors are not required to turn over all investigation leads or ones that have proved fruitless.
Since both Franks and Kopas were schedule to testify in this post-conviction hearing, both the county bench and prosecutors have stepped down. Northumberland Senior Judge Barry Feudale is presiding over the case.
Testimony is expected to pick up this morning at 9:30 a.m., when former prosecutors, and now Judges Ralph C. Warman and Gerald R. Solomon are expected to testify about why and how the documents were not released nearly 20 years ago.