Sep 23, 2018 3 min read

More than five years after Matthew Mathias, 37, a resident of Washington’s West End neighborhood, died of gunshot wounds, jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning in the case of Brandon Wolowski, against whom prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Jurors who are opposed to capital punishment are prohibited from serving on such a case, so the court administrator casts a broad net to find those who would be able to impose the penalty if they decide the facts warrant it.

Judge John DiSalle set aside 11 days in September and October for the defense and assistant district attorney to interview and choose a dozen jurors, plus alternates, to sit in judgment on the case.

In Pennsylvania, a unanimous jury verdict is the only method that can lead to a death sentence.

Wolowski was 18 years old at the time of the killing, Jan. 8, 2013. In addition to Mathias’ slaying, Wolowski is charged with the attempted homicide of the man’s girlfriend, Michelle Powell, who identified the shooter as a man named “Brandon” and gave police a general description.

Police have said attempted robbery of guns kept in a safe led to the killings. Mathias’ obituary said he was an avid gun collector who had worked as a mechanic. Wolowski is also charged with attempted robbery and aggravated assault.

His court-appointed attorney, Noah Geary, argued before DiSalle last month that because of Wolowski’s age, and claims of suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome and a learning disability, the defendant should have had a parent or adult present when police questioned him the night Mathias was slain.

“The defense has failed to point the trial court toward any case law or other authority which supports the theory that the defendant should have been treated as a juvenile,” DiSalle wrote as part of a 19-page opinion and order.

City police Lt. Daniel Stanek testified last month under questioning by Deputy District Attorney Leslie Ridge that he could not detect any learning disability in Wolowski during his interrogation.

Geary, in seeking to have all charges against Wolowski dismissed, also questioned the legality of Wolowski’s arrest, but DiSalle, as part of the document filed Sept. 14, found that the police had “the requisite probable cause.”

The last death penalty case heard in Washington County Court was that of Jordan A. Clemons, now 29, who was convicted in 2015 of murdering Karissa Kunco, 21, of Baldwin Borough, Allegheny County.

Her throat had been slashed and her body was found in January 2012 in a Mt. Pleasant Township woods.

An automatic review of Clemons’ conviction and penalty by the state Supreme Court is still pending, according to Washington County Public Defender Glenn Alterio.

Clemons is being held in the State Correctional Institution at Greene County.