Oct 17, 2009 3 min read

Westmoreland County Senior Judge Charles Loughran denied a subsequent request from attorney Noah Geary to divide the payments – which are for work done four years ago on David Munchinski’s state court appeals – over six months. Munchinski, 54, of Latrobe was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for killing James P. Alford and Raymond Gierke at a chalet in Bear Rocks, Fayette County, on Dec. 2, 1977. Earlier this year, Geary submitted a bill to the county for $25,377. Geary testified Friday that the bill encompassed work he did on Munchinski’s appeals to the state Superior and Supreme courts. Geary already had been paid $125,000 from the county for work done on Munchinski’s post-conviction appeal in the Common Pleas Court between 2002 and 2004. The judge in that appeal, Senior Judge Barry Feudale, granted that post-conviction appeal and retroactively ordered the county to pay Geary for his representation during the appeal. Feudale’s ruling – which threw out Munchinski’s convictions and barred prosecutors from retrying him – was ultimately overturned by the state Superior Court. Feudale’s order also covered Geary’s legal fees for appeals to the Superior and Supreme courts, and indicated they should be submitted quarterly to the county. The fee Feudale set was $50 an hour. From October 2004 until two months ago, however, Geary did not submit one, county solicitor Joseph E. Ferens Jr. said. We had no inkling we were going to get this bill. … It just dropped out of the air,” Ferens said. He noted that he believed the $125,000 paid several years ago was for all of Geary’s work on the case. Geary acknowledged not submitting his bills in a timely manner, but told Loughran that the case has required extensive work because of so many appeals and the volumes of information associated with it. This was the messiest case I ever had, and I’m sure it’s the messiest case I ever will have,” Geary said. Munchinski has been in prison since his conviction in 1986, and has mounted numerous appeals in both the state and federal court systems. The appeals were consistently denied until 2004 when a Feudale reviewed the case and vacated the convictions. Feudale said investigations showed that Fayette County prosecutors who tried the case withheld evidence. Munchinski’s convictions were eventually reinstated by the state Superior Court, and that reinstatement was upheld by the state Supreme Court. Geary is currently pursuing appeals in the federal court system on Munchinski’s behalf, and said that the county would not be billed for that. The first of the $5,000 payments is due before the end of the year. The payments are spread evenly through 2013 and do not include interest.