Co-defendant charged with homicide attempt asks to be tried separately
One of two men charged last September in an execution-style shooting is opposing the prosecution’s request the co-defendants be tried together.
Washington residents Keith Anthony “Sin” Rosario, 27, and Richard Dewey Lacks Jr., 24, are charged with attempted homicide in the wounding of Marcus R. Stancik, 31, who has addresses in Allegheny County and Washington.
Stancik had been shot below the skull Sept. 5 but escaped into a South Franklin Township lake near Cove Road after hearing his assailant’s gun jam.
The bullet remained lodged below Stancik’s skull when he testified at Rosario’s and Lacks’ preliminary hearing last fall.
In late January, the Washington County district attorney’s office filed what is known as a “notice of joinder.”
In this pretrial motion, Deputy District Attorney Jerome Moschetta requested the two defendants be tried together because Rosario and Lacks are charged with conspiracy and because the evidence against them is nearly identical.
Rosario’s attorney, Herbert Terrell, disagreed, claiming “while Rosario was a transient resident where the handgun was located, substantial evidence exists that Rosario had no involvement with the weapon.”
Terrell included with his motion a copy of an interview with Lacks by state police in which Lacks is alleged to have told police Stancik owed Lacks money.
“No evidence exists that links any such motive in the case to Mr. Rosario,” Terrell continued.
A state police report included information about a 90-minute jailhouse interview in which Lacks allegedly said he often stayed at a home he called Rosario’s address at Grove Avenue and Ewing Street.
On Thursday, at the request of Lacks’ court-appointed attorney, Gary J. Graminski, Judge Valarie Constanzo scheduled the case for May 4.
Both defendants have been jailed while awaiting trial, Rosario under $2 million bond and Lacks under $1 million bond.