Jun 25, 2002 2 min read

Last week it appeared a hearing to begin untangling the Bear Rocks murder case was finally going to get underway. James P. Alford and Raymond P. Gierke were slain nearly 25 years ago, and while two men, David J. Munchinski and Leon Scaglione, were convicted in 1986, reasonable doubt has since surfaced. Scaglione has since died but Munchinski has never stopped pursuing a new trial. He has claimed that the state’s key eyewitness (also now deceased) lied, that police coached him and that evidence that would have helped his case was kept from him. Initially these seemed the same type of desperate points most convicted murderers raise on appeal. Throw in a bag full of confetti and pray that one little piece will catch an appellate court’s fancy.

In Munchinski’s case several points appear merit further investigation; hence the new hearing. He was successful in having the Fayette County bench recuse itself from presiding over the new proceedings as too many members were former prosecutors involved in the case. Now his attorney wants the district attorney’s office to step aside and let the Attorney General’s Office represent the commonwealth’s interest.

Rather than fight this, District Attorney Nancy Vernon ought to concede. Since she will be called upon to defend her office as well as the actions of her predecessors, the interests of justice would best be served if a neutral prosecutor stepped in.

Munchinski in essence is challenging the Fayette County criminal justice system, claiming that he was set up by police and then convicted through misdeeds on the part of those trusted to uphold the law.

If, after a hearing in which the attorney general is called in, a judge finds Munchinski’s claims bogus, at least he won’t again be able to question the credibility of the district attorney’s office during this latest round.