Munchinski allowed to live on his own while awaiting double murder retrial
A federal judge ruled that David Joseph Munchinski, free while state prosecutors appeal his vacated Fayette County double murder conviction, can live on his own in Florida.
The initial order allowing Munchinski’s release indicated that he had to reside with his daughter at her home near Tampa, Fla. However, on May 18, Chief Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan granted the motion allowing Munchinski, 59, formerly of Latrobe, to live on his own after no one from the attorney general’s office objected to the request by her set May 17 deadline.
Munchinski has been free on bail since Sept. 30, when Lenihan released him on his own recognizance after she reversed his first-degree murder convictions in the deaths of Raymond Alford and James P. Gierke. The men were shot to death on Dec. 2, 1977 at a home in Bear Rocks, Bullskin Township. Leon Scaglione was also convicted in the killings, but died in prison.
In August, Lenihan reversed Munchinski’s convictions, citing the “outrageous misconduct” of former county prosecutors, now judges, Ralph C. Warman and Gerald R. Solomon. She found they withheld evidence to Munchinski’s trial attorneys that could have cast doubt on a jury’s decision to convict him of murder in 1986. She gave prosecutors 120 days to retry Munchinski. That time frame was stayed when Deputy Attorney General Gregory Simatic appealed Lenihan’s ruling to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. There is an argument on the appeal scheduled for June 28 in court in Philadelphia.
Lenihan found much of that evidence that was not turned over dealt with Richard Bowen, who testified he was an eyewitness to the killings.
Bowen, Lenihan found, may have been in Oklahoma when the killings occurred. A police report that indicated that and other statements Bowen gave to authorities that were inconsistent with his trial testimony should have been turned over as well, she ruled.
Bowen also died in prison.
Munchinski’s longtime attorney, Noah Geary, filed the request on May 9, and indicated he wanted to request “a minor change” in his client’s bail conditions.
Geary noted Munchinski “has dutifully complied” with all of his bail conditions, and now wants his own living quarters. Geary’s motion noted that the pretrial services official in Florida who supervises Munchinski had no objection to allowing him to live on his own.
“No harm would befall the government by the granting of this minor change in status,” Geary wrote.
The attorney noted that Munchinski is continuing to be treated for various health-related maladies, and that he is being denied certain assistance and benefits because his daughter’s income is too high and makes him ineligible.
“Their co-habitation thus appears to be having the effect of disqualifying Mr. Munchinski from various forms of assistance etc. from which he could benefit,” Geary wrote. “Because of his poor health, Mr. Munchinski is unable to obtain and maintain employment, and remains indigent.”