Judge to decide whether attorney should remain on Waynesburg double homicide case
A judge in Greene County must decide whether the court-appointed attorney representing a co-defendant accused of double homicide should still represent her client after she was charged last month with felony wiretapping.
President Judge Lou Dayich said during a hearing Tuesday afternoon in Greene County Court of Common Pleas that he could make a decision soon over whether Kimberly Furmanek will continue as the lead attorney for Shawna Marie Smith, who could face the death penalty if convicted in the shooting deaths of two people in Waynesburg in February.
Furmanek was arrested at her Youngwood apartment June 16 after being accused of conspiring with a Washington County jail inmate and allowing him to listen into a private phone call she had with his attorney, James Jeffries, who was unaware his client was on the other line. Furmanek is free on $25,000 bond and attended the hearing before Dayich in which she told the judge she wanted to continue representing Smith.
“I believe I can confidently and effectively represent her,” Furmanek told Dayich.
Dayich asked Furmanek if there were any disciplinary proceedings currently against her, to which she responded she was not aware of any review by the state Disciplinary Board. Her law license remains active, according to the Disciplinary Board’s website. Furmanek had just started working at the public defender’s office in Westmoreland County at the time of her arrest, although it was not known if she was still employed there.
“No one has reported me to the Disciplinary Board, to my knowledge,” Furmanek said to Dayich.
Dayich then turned his attention to Smith, asking her if she felt comfortable with Furmanek as her attorney. He noted that since Furnmanek was court-appointed, he could only remove her under extraordinary circumstances unless Smith told him that she no longer had faith in her attorney.
“Do you have any reservations?” Dayich asked the defendant.
“From what I’ve read in the paper, it’s not a cut and dried case,” Smith said, alluding to a June 17 newspaper article about Furmanek’s arrest. “I’m comfortable with her representing me because I don’t feel it’s everything it’s been made out to be.”
Smith, 23, and Cortland James Rogers, 29, are accused of fatally shooting Kevin Lamar Williford and Judy Butler Hunter and later attacking two other people at another residence. The bodies of Williford, 54, and Hunter, 47, were found Feb. 14 inside their South Morris Street apartment in Waynesburg. Smith and Rodgers have been held at the Greene County jail without bond since they were charged with two counts of homicide and numerous other felony charges.
Further complicating the situation, a similar hearing was held for Rogers earlier Tuesday afternoon in which his attorney, Joseph Zupancic, asked Dayich to appoint Jeffries as co-counsel for his client. That would create logistical problems if Smith and Rogers went to trial together since Furmanek told Dayich that she is not to have any contact with Jeffries as a condition of her bail.
“That becomes an issue because Mr. James Jeffries is either a victim or someone who has an interest in the criminal case with Ms. Furmanek,” Dayich said in court.
Investigators in Washington County said Furmanek allowed inmate John Quentin Lazear to eavesdrop on her phone call with Jeffries on May 6 by placing two cellphones next to each other with the men on different lines. The conversation was recorded by the Washington County jail due to an inmate being on the call, unbeknownst to Jeffries, prompting the wiretapping charges. Investigators said Furmanek and Lazear had developed a relationship while she was representing him in several drug cases, but she was banned from visiting the jail or calling inmates in December for unspecified reasons.
Furmanek is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Sept. 28 before District Judge Kelly Stewart on felony charges of intercepting communications and conspiracy.
Also during Tuesday’s proceeding in Greene County, Furmanek asked Dayich if he could appoint Adam Yarussi as co-counsel on Smith’s homicide case. Yarussi is the lawyer defending Furmanek in her wiretapping case.
Dayich said he would consider the request, while also deciding whether to allow Furmanek to remain as the lead attorney for Smith. He rescheduled Smith’s plea court hearing Tuesday due to the “complications” with the case and said he expected to make a decision no later than early next week.