Prosecutor opposes Munchinski bail
A state prosecutor said that there are no “extraordinary circumstances” that would warrant granting bail to a man convicted of two murders in Fayette County while he mounts a new appeal. In a filing in Western District Court in Pittsburgh, Deputy Attorney General Gregory J. Simatic wrote that there are no “extraordinary circumstances” that would warrant granting David Munchinski bail.
Munchinski, 57, of Latrobe was convicted in the shooting deaths of Raymond Alford and James Gierke. The men were killed in a chalet in Bear Rocks, Bullskin Township, on Dec. 2, 1977. Munchinski and Leon Scaglione were convicted in their deaths in 1986.
Both were sentenced to two life terms. Scaglione died in prison several years ago.
Munchinski has always maintained his innocence, and consistently mounted appeals.
Simatic’s filing noted that direct appeals of Munchinski’s conviction, as well as two appeals under the Post Conviction Relief Act, were denied. A third PCRA was granted by a visiting judge who found that Fayette County prosecutors who tried the case in 1986 withheld evidence.
Munchinski’s conviction was vacated, and a retrial barred. However, prosecutors appealed the decision and the state Superior Court reversed it, and reinstated Munchinski’s conviction.
In the opinion, the court noted that many of the items Munchinski’s attorney claimed were newly discovered were known to him long before.
The federal appeal followed.
Munchinski’s attorney, Noah Geary, has noted that he planned to ask for bail while the appeal is pending.
To grant bail, Simatic wrote that there are standards a judge would have to adhere to, including the belief that there was a high likelihood that the appeal would be successful.
“The commonwealth submits that Munchinski cannot demonstrate the ‘extraordinary circumstances’ require to merit bail pending review of his (appeal),” Simatic wrote.
Geary has said the withheld evidence led to “one of the most outrageous perversions of justice in the history of the criminal justice system in America.”