Aug 20, 2019 4 min read

An attorney for Jordan Clemons, who faces the death penalty in the murder of Karissa Kunco, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review decisions made in Pennsylvania courts that led to or upheld his conviction.

Clemons, now 30, was found guilty of first-degree murder by a Washington County jury, which chose to impose the death penalty after hearing trial testimony in 2015.

Kunco, 21, of Baldwin Borough, Allegheny County, was Clemons’ former girlfriend. Last seen alive on Jan. 11, 2012, her naked body was found under brush, leaves and a tree stump the next day in woods along Sabo Road, Mt. Pleasant Township. Her throat had been cut. Police alleged Clemons took Kunco’s car and bank card, which he used to purchase an Xbox game console.

Facebook groups called “Karissa’s Army” and “Rot in Hell Jordan Clemons” sprung up, a rally was held before the trial at a school in Washington County during which Clemons was described as a murderer, and an online forum made racially charged comments about the case, according to his attorney, Marc A. Bookman.

The attorney from the nonprofit Atlantic Center for Capital Representation in Philadelphia alleges Clemons’ constitutional rights were violated in two ways.

One issue deals with whether Clemons waived his right to have a lawyer present during his initial contact with police in January 2012.

Bookman asserted Clemons “had clearly consumed alcohol” before being read his rights, “but did not otherwise manifest any understanding of those rights or a desire to waive them.”

As to Clemons’ right to have a lawyer present when he turned himself in, District Attorney Gene Vittone wrote, “Miranda warnings were properly given to” Clemons, who “then immediately provided a statement which placed him with the victim the evening that she disappeared. This statement was admitted at trial.”

Vittone notes that police asked Clemons to sign a form that would waive his right to have an attorney present. Clemons “then stated that he should probably talk to an attorney. The police then stopped the interview.”

Clemons also focused on whether social media and news coverage surrounding his case should have necessitated the selection of jurors from outside Washington County

Bookman cited the large number of followers writing comments on the Facebook pages and signing a petition to change domestic violence laws as reasons to prejudice a Washington County jury.

Vittone wrote that although Public Defender Brian Gorman raised the issue at a pretrial hearing, the defense attorney did not bring it up again at jury selection.

Bookman claims the pretrial publicity was extreme and that the state appellate court “over-emphasized the cooling-off period between sensational coverage and the trial.”

Although review of a death penalty case in Pennsylvania goes directly to the state Supreme Court, whether the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case is up to the highest court in the land.

Vittone’s position, according to the introduction to his 17-page brief, is that these issues were put to rest when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld Clemons’ conviction and death penalty.

Clemons, an inmate in the State Correctional Institution at Greene, asked the U.S. Supreme Court in May to proceed as a pauper who earns $30 per month laboring as a prison inmate and receives $200 a month in gifts that he uses to purchase personal hygiene items, food and to communicate with his children, family and friends.

Justice Samuel Alito gave Clemons’ attorney an extension of time to file his petition. According to the Supreme Court docket, Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone was granted a similar request. The district attorney on Friday filed his brief in opposition to Clemons’ claims.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania, the last of which occurred in 1999.