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Final order entered in mentally ill man’s dismissed homicide case

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

Over two weeks after Fayette County’s president judge signed an order submitted by the district attorney’s office to discontinue prosecution of a mentally ill man accused of homicide, the order dismissing the case was entered into the record, making the man’s freedom official.

“While there was clearly sufficient probable cause to file the criminal complaint and to pursue this matter, it presently appears to be a reasonable possibility that (Craig Geness) was legally insane at the time of the actions alleged to constitute the crimes charged herein,” wrote Judge Steve P. Leskinen in Thursday’s order.

“Under the present circumstances,” he added, “the commonwealth would likely be wasting scarce public funds to have a countervailing expert evaluation performed.”

Geness was charged with homicide in 2006, accused of pushing 61-year-old Ronald Fiffik off a wall about five feet high to the ground outside McVey Personal Care Home on Lincoln Street in Uniontown where both men were residents in October 2006.

Police charged Geness after James McVey, the owner of the personal care home, said he saw Geness walking away from where Fiffik fell right after it happened.

According to a police report, Geness reported he heard voices that day. However, when he allegedly told police about the voices, Geness was a patient at Highlands Hospital, having been involuntarily committed to the psychiatric ward.

Attorney Bernadette Tummons, who represents 48-year-old Geness, presented a motion before President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. on Nov. 25 to have the single homicide count dismissed for lack of evidence. District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. appeared at the same hearing to present a motion to discontinue prosecution of the case, which Wagner signed.

Wagner’s order never made it to Geness’ file though.

Heneks, at a separate hearing held on Nov. 11 on Tummons’ motion to dismiss the case for lack of evidence, indicated he would be willing to prepare an order to drop the charge and have a guardian appointed for Geness. Leskinen said he would be willing to sign it, but no such order was ever docketed in Geness’ file.

In his order, Leskinen pointed out that Fiffik’s family is aware of the resolution of the case and “no one wishes to be heard prior to the dismissal of the criminal complaint”

“Although the defense has recently been pursuing a dismissal aggressively, the matter languished for years while the defendant was being evaluated for competency at the request of defense counsel without any other action or complaint by the defense,” Leskinen wrote in Thursday’s order.

The information available in Geness’ file indicates the public defender’s office represented him through 2012.

Tummons said she tried to negotiate a resolution for some time, and when the negotiations failed, she began to request discovery materials the prosecution had not produced in nearly six years, which would include any evidence the state planned to use against Geness.

“How can you defend a case when you can’t receive discovery?” said Tummons.

She stands by her contention that the facts alleged by prosecutors were never enough to support a homicide charge.

“I didn’t take any fact of my own (before the court),” Tummons said. “I took everything from the commonwealth’s own documents that show nothing. There’s no evidence against this man at all.”

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