Attorney: Trial was infected
A man convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of retired Carroll Township police chief Howard Springer and his wife, Nancy, five years ago took his case to federal court, claiming his trial was so fraught with error that he should be granted a new one.
Attorney Noah Geary, on behalf of his client, Gerald Szakal, 30, who is serving two consecutive life sentences at the state prison in Fayette County, claims that a prospective juror’s outburst during the selection process, statements a witness made to jurors during a recess in the October 2009 trial, a part of a prosecutor’s closing argument, incorrect instruction to jurors that their verdict had to be unanimous and jury misconduct during deliberations kept Szakal from getting a fair trial.
“It is hard to imagine that this many prejudicial events, and of such magnitude, would occur in one trial,” Geary wrote. “The cumulative effect of all these prejudicial events denied (Szakal) a fair trial.
“Literally, from beginning to end, (Szakal’s) trial was infected and polluted with one prejudicial event after another.”
Geary also raises with U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh the issue of alleging tampering with the trial transcript, a matter that the state Superior Court disposed of last August when letting stand Szakal’s convictions on the murder counts plus theft, receiving stolen property and two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery.
In requesting that the federal court rule on Szakal’s petition, Geary wrote that he did not appeal to the state Supreme Court because it was not required to be deemed to have exhausted his state court remedies.
“I’m also going to be filing this week a petition for leave to conduct discovery, which gets more into the tampering issue,” Geary said Monday.
Rules governing judges’ conduct prohibit them from commenting on any case pending in any court, President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca’s law clerk said Monday afternoon.
In reviewing what he deemed errors in the trial, Geary pointed to a frustrated prospective juror who told a law clerk in open court he had to leave because jury duty was keeping him from his livelihood while attorneys and O’Dell Seneca were individually questioning prospective jurors in another room.
The member of the jury pool used an expletive and blurted out that Szakal was guilty. O’Dell Seneca, Geary claims, returned to the courtroom, said the man who made the comment had been taken into custody and then asked for a show of hands from those who heard the outburst. Six people seated in various parts of the courtroom responded, but another prospective juror said he believed there were more. The six were removed from the jury pool, but the judge did not grant Geary’s request for a mistrial.
During a recess in the trial, Geary said commonwealth witness Dennis Hawkins spoke directly to jurors outside the courthouse, telling them that Szakal “told me everything he did” when they were inmates in the special housing unit of the Washington County Jail and that Szakal had (Nancy Springer) down and was kicking her. Geary said he requested a mistrial based on Hawkins’ statement, but that O’Dell Seneca denied it.
Szakal “should be afforded a new trial in light of this highly prejudicial and improper contact between a government witness and the jurors,” Geary wrote.
In the trial’s closing argument, Geary claims the prosecution impermissibly shifted the burden of proof to Szakal, saying he could have called certain witnesses to testify. Geary said he again asked for a mistrial, but the placement of his request shows up in a different part of the transcript. Although the judge cautioned jurors to disregard that part of the argument, Geary said a juror came forward the morning after rendering a verdict and said the jury considered it. Juror Everett Miller, now 53, signed an affidavit as part of the federal case that reflects that allegation.
Miller also said other jurors prevented him from passing notes to the judge or her staff when he sought and needed clarification on various parts of the applicable law and instructions to the jury.
“I felt coerced and forced into voting for guilty on second-degree murder,” Miller swore in a 2009 affidavit, saying he called Geary early in the morning after the verdict.
“I feel guilty that I did not stand up when I was polled and say, ‘Your honor, I do not agree with this.'”
The Springers, who dealt in precious metals, had previously purchased items from Szakal before their deaths during a robbery.
Springer, 63, and his wife, Nancy, 65, were each killed at close range by single gunshot to the head. Szakal said he had made several trips to their home in 2007 or 2008 to either sell jewelry and coins or to borrow money.
If the jury had convicted him of premeditated murder, the prosecution wanted them to impose a death penalty on Szakal.
His three co-defendants received sentences ranging from 2 to 4 years to 20 to 40 years in prison.