Apr 19, 2006 By Jennifer Harr 4 min read

A Fayette County judge has ruled that Catherine Hamborsky, charged with shooting and stabbing a man to death last year, waived her right to remain silent during questioning by police. Judge Steve P. Leskinen indicated on Thursday that Hamborsky alone could waive her rights, and did so knowingly. Hamborsky’s attorney, Samuel Davis, had asked Leskinen to throw out statements she made to police because a relative retained him to represent her while she was being questioned.

Hamborsky, 40, of 607 Kingview Road in Scottdale is charged with shooting and stabbing Thomas “Gunner” Lesniak at JJ’s Bar in Upper Tyrone Township on Jan. 4, 2005. After Lesniak died, police allege that Hamborsky returned to the bar and set it on fire to cover up what happened.

According to testimony at a prior hearing, a relative retained Davis, who tried to locate Hamborsky while police were interviewing her, but was unable to do so.

Testimony indicated that either Davis or someone from his office called the state police barracks and left a message on a trooper’s voicemail, and then tried the offices of two magisterial district judges. Hamborsky was not at either of the offices, but a secretary at one told a trooper who was there that Davis called looking for Hamborsky. That trooper carried the message to the barracks, where Hamborsky was being questioned.

When police told District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon what was going on, she told police to stop questioning Hamborsky, “out of an abundance of caution,” Vernon said.

Leskinen found that the messages Davis left were not sufficient to show that police questioned Hamborsky while she was represented.

Under Pennsylvania law, police could have continued questioning Hamborsky even after knowing that someone else retained an attorney for her, the opinion stated.

“Accordingly, the police officers could have continued to question the defendant until such a point when she personally invoked her right to remain silent, requested that an attorney be present, or until counsel appeared and requested to be present during interrogation,” Leskinen wrote.

None of those things occurred during Hamborsky’s questioning, according to testimony at the suppression hearing.

Leskinen also denied a request to dismiss the case because Davis claimed that prosecutors could not prove what caused Lesniak’s death.

Davis had argued that it was just as likely that Lesniak died from natural causes because he was overweight and had an enlarged heart.

However, Leskinen cited testimony from forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who indicated that he believed Lesniak’s fatal heart attack resulted in a loss of blood from the gunshot wounds.

Wecht also has acknowledged that Lesniak may have been dead or dying before Hamborsky allegedly shot him.

“There is substantial evidence in this case, independent of Hamborsky’s statements, that support the conclusion that the victim’s death was more likely the result of criminal acts instead of natural causes,” Leskinen wrote.

He also indicated that jurors would have the opportunity to weigh Hamborsky’s self-defense claim at a trial. Hamborsky reportedly told police that Lesniak attempted to sexually assault her, and she was forced to defend herself.

When police initially talked to her, she did not indicate that.

“What is important here, however, is that it is possible that the jury will accept the commonwealth’s testimony and theory of the case, while disbelieving the claims of self-defense made by Hamborsky,” Leskinen wrote.

While Leskinen’s opinion paves the way for prosecutors to try Hamborsky, he has yet to hear the balance of testimony on a petition to revoke her bond. Adult probation officers indicated that Hamborsky tested positive for cocaine during a random drug test this March.

She has been free on bond since March 2005. Davis asked that hearing be continued so that he could find an expert to offer testimony about the potential for falsely positive results for cocaine.