Testimony produces questions in 25-year-old homicide case
A day of testimony produced more questions about the existence of certain pieces of evidence in a 25-year-old murder case. Attorney Noah Geary, who represents convicted murderer David J. Munchinski, appeared in Fayette County Court on Wednesday, requesting physical evidence in the case that Deputy Attorney General Jonelle L. Harter has said does not exist.
Testimony centered primarily on two issues: the existence of anal swabs that might have been taken from Raymond P. Gierki and James P. Alford and an interview that may have been conducted by county prosecutors in September 1982. That interview was with key prosecution witness Richard Bowen, who has since died.
Visiting Senior Judge Barry E. Feudale said he’ll give both attorneys the opportunity to offer written arguments on their positions before he makes a ruling. After he hands down his ruling, testimony will continue later on either the questions raised Tuesday or other issues to be raised later as part of Munchinski’s appeal.
Munchinski and Leon Scaglione were convicted in 1986 of killing Alford and Gierki at a Bear Rocks chalet nine years earlier. Both were sentenced to two life terms in prison. Scaglione died in prison in 1996.
Munchinski, who has maintained his innocence, has had several appeal hearings on the conviction, his latest in 1992.
Feudale, appointed to hear the case last year, earlier ordered prosecutors to turn over swabs, a tape of the 1982 interview and a coroner’s report, along with several other items. All but those three things have been turned over.
Geary called retired trooper Montgomery Goodwin, the lead investigator in the case, to testify that there was indeed an interview with Bowen at the district attorney’s office on Sept. 9, 1982. Goodwin testified that a paragraph in his police report referencing that interview was deleted when the document was turned over to Munchinski’s former defense attorneys.
“Did you do that?” asked Geary.
“No. I didn’t know nothing about it,” said Goodwin, currently in prison for third-degree murder.
In an earlier proceeding, former chief prosecutor and now Judge Ralph C. Warman, testified he removed the paragraph to delete a mistake of fact made by Goodwin.
Geary called the deletion of the paragraph “an intent to deceive the reader (of the report) that the paragraph never existed. If you believe there is a tape (of the interview), then we have some very serious things with tampering of evidence and obstruction of justice.”
The retired trooper, however, testified he did not make a mistake and said the high-profile nature of the case helped him specifically remember that he took Bowen to see prosecutors on Sept. 9, 1982.
“I might not remember someone who stole your hubcaps, but a case like this, I remember,” said Goodwin, noting he was “sure” a tape was made.
Although he did not hear the tape that Geary contends was made that day, Goodwin said he did see Warman put a tape into the recorder and then operate the machine while Bowen told them he drove the getaway car for Munchinski and Scaglione.
A month later, during a subsequent interview with prosecutors, Bowen expanded upon his statement and said he witnessed the murders. Bowen, according to Goodwin, told prosecutors he held back during that first statement because he wanted to ensure he would not be prosecuted and had not fully understood immunity.
Geary produced other reports that referenced the September 1982 interview, and he asked Goodwin if his superiors or prosecutors had ever alerted him that his reports were in error. Goodwin testified they had not.
“I never make a mistake in facts on my reports. I guarantee you,” Goodwin said.
Harter, however, pointed out typographical errors in the reports and a perceived discrepancy with who was present during the supposed September 1982 interview.
She also attempted to question Goodwin about his criminal conviction, but he asserted his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and said he would only testify about the Munchinski case. Although Harter argued that testimony about the conviction would go to show bias, Feudale said he could not force Goodwin to testify about that.
Before Goodwin presented testimony about the deleted portion of his report, Harter objected and later told Feudale the matter had been previously decided in 1992 by then-Judge William J. Franks.
In 1992, Franks heard testimony from Warman and former prosecutor, Judge Gerald R. Solomon. Since Franks ruled that the jurists’ testimony agreed that there never was a September 1982 interview, he could not order prosecutors to produce it.
Harter said that since Franks had made that decision, the issue should be deemed closed. She said if Feudale wanted to consider the argument that the testimony of Warman and Solomon from 1992 should be considered.
Geary, however, argued that Harter should call the judges if she wants their testimony considered.
“The fact that they testified in 1992 has nothing to do with this,” Geary said.
Harter presented several witnesses during the daylong hearing, including state police officials, all of whom said there were no anal swabs stored from the double slaying. Geary had hoped to have those swabs tested for DNA.
However, testimony showed that there are slides that contain material that could be used for DNA testing.
“If the reckless conduct in disposing of the swabs resulted in more than mere negligence and if you find that, I ask you to find my client’s due process rights were violated,” Geary said.
Munchinski’s daughter, Raina, who believes her father was wrongly convicted, said she was upset that she did not get to have any contact with him during the hearing. She came from Florida to see the proceeding.
When Munchinski was first brought into the courtroom, Raina Munchinski hugged him, only to be told that such contact is prohibited between prisoners and the public. The two, however, chatted during recesses.
Both Feudale and Harter were called in to handle the case after Franks agreed to recuse the county’s judges and District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon recused her office because of potential conflicts.