Feb 8, 2019 5 min read

A Washington County jury deliberated for only about a half-hour Thursday before finding a Washington man guilty of kidnapping and beating another man in the West End and then shooting him during a botched execution in the woods of South Franklin Township.

Jurors returned the verdict following a trial in which testimony started Tuesday. Prosecutors said that 28-year-old Keith Rosario – accompanied by two other people who testified against him during the trial – abducted 32-year-old Marcus Stancik and drove him to Cove Road before Rosario took him to the shore of a former reservoir, forced him to his knees and shot him in the base of his head Sept. 5, 2017.

“The jury obviously listened to our case, and, as I said in the beginning, the evidence was overwhelming of (Rosario’s) guilt,” Deputy District Attorney Jason Walsh, the government’s lead attorney, said following the verdict. “And I believe they paid attention and found that to be true.”

Rosario, who denied his guilt on the stand, looked on impassively as Judge Valarie Costanzo called on each juror separately to ask about the verdict, which included convictions on attempted homicide, aggravated assault and kidnapping charges, plus two counts of conspiracy.

The judge set sentencing for May 6. She also revoked bail for Rosario, who’d been in the Washington County jail pending trial.

Attorney Kimberly Furmanek, who was assigned by the court to represent Rosario as conflict counsel, said she expects to appeal the verdict. She said she was “bound by” some decisions that were made before she was appointed.

“If this had been my case from the beginning, there would have been a different case that was presented by the defense,” she added.

During her closing argument, Furmanek questioned the credibility of key prosecution witnesses and said there were no physical links between her client and the crimes.

“The only evidence they have against Keith Rosario is testimony by people who have something to gain,” she told jurors.

One of those she singled out was Richard Lacks, 25, against whom similar charges are pending for his purported role in kidnapping and beating of Stancik, whom he’d met about two weeks earlier and allegedly recruited into a drug distribution ring based out of a house on Ewing Street.

Testimony showed Rosario had allegedly threatened Stancik – who was homeless and addicted to drugs when he drifted into Rosario’s circle – two days before the shooting when a handgun turned up missing.

“He’s getting a plea bargain of only four to eight years,” Furmanek said of Lacks.

Rosario accused Stancik of stealing the weapon. Stancik, who denied stealing it but grew frightened, left to make a cocaine delivery and didn’t return. The day of the kidnapping, Lacks spotted him on the street and tried to persuade him to smooth things over with Rosario, testimony showed. Stancik demurred.

Lacks proceeded to tell Rosario, who then went on a “hunt” for Stancik in a vehicle with Lacks and Tyree King, who was 17 at the time and wasn’t charged as a participant.

When they found him, testimony showed Lacks and Rosario allegedly beat Stancik, forced him into the car and retrieved a gun from the Ewing Street house and then headed out of the city.

“The whole time, Marcus Stancik is pleading for his life,” Walsh said during his closing.

Walsh said Rosario’s reaction was to threaten to dump his body by the road. Later, Walsh said Rosario led the other man into the woods, forced him to his knees and shot him once in the back of the neck. The gun jammed when he tried to get off a second shot, and Stancik wound up in the water, where he yelled for help and swam away.

A nearby resident called 911.

Much of the case hinged on the reliability of the various witnesses who testified.

Dechaunta Jolly, who lives on Addison Street, testified that Rosario had been with her part of the day and had slept at her residence that night. Walsh, however, had questioned her credibility and said she cares about Rosario, with whom she has a child.

Furmanek also said others – like King and his mother – likewise stood to gain by cooperating. She also asserted that investigators had repeatedly questioned King and Lacks before they got the story they wanted.

Walsh countered by pointing out that King’s mother had brought the teen to police and he’d given his account of what happened, even incriminating himself at times, voluntarily.

Walsh acknowledged his use of cooperating witnesses. But, he said, Stancik had nothing to gain from his testimony.

Stancik had quickly named Rosario – using his nickname, “Sin” – as the gunman when police arrived to find him nude in the water. Stancik again named Rosario later that night when interviewed at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, a state police investigator testified.

“He immediately tells them who shot him,” Walsh said. “He said, ‘Sin shot me,'” Walsh recounted. “‘Keith Rosario shot me.'”