DNA tests delay homicide trial

WILKES-BARRE – DNA testing has delayed the trial of homicide suspect Jabbar Wallace, who police say shot and killed a man at the Glass Bar in Edwardsville in December.

Prosecutors in the case – assistant district attorneys Mike Vough and Maureen Collins – said Thursday at a pre-trial conference that saliva and hair found on baseball caps at the crime scene are being tested for DNA, which could take six to eight weeks.

The delay prompted Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. to postpone the trial until October.

Wallace, 33, of Wyoming, was charged with criminal homicide after police say he shot and killed Eric Cusaac, 32, inside the men’s room of the Edwardsville bar.

According to arrest papers, Dominique Petel told police she backed into Wallace’s car in Wilkes-Barre Township just a few days before Thanksgiving 2007. The two exchanged insurance information and went their separate ways.

A few weeks later on Dec. 15, Petel was with Cusaac at the Cabaret Lounge in Kingston. Petel told police Wallace approached her at the bar and asked her why she was looking at him. “Is it because you hit my car?,” Wallace said.

Police said Wallace told Petel that the accident was an inconvenience for him because he had to drive a rental car. That’s when, police said, Cusaac said he wasn’t going to allow Wallace to speak to Petel “that way” and Wallace then left the bar. A few hours later, Petel and Cusaac went to the Glass Bar, police said. Petel said she was dancing when she heard two shots and ducked behind a pool table.

Kingston Police driving near the bar at the time saw people running out of the establishment, and called to find out if a 911 call was made.

When police arrived, employees directed them to the men’s room where they found Cusaac lying on the floor with two gunshot wounds, one to his head and another to his abdomen. Cusaac, of Brooklyn, N.Y., died as a result of his wounds a few minutes later at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

Salvadore Harris, who was talking to Wallace in the men’s room about the car accident, told investigators that Cusaac walked into the bathroom and was shot twice by Wallace, police said. Wallace told his family he was attacked inside the men’s room by two men before he fired the gun.

In late July, Olszewski continued the trial to September because attorneys were awaiting documents from state police involving the shooting.

Glass Bar owner Leo Yerashunas said in August the Main Street tavern will close its doors after the Pennsylvania Liquor Control board ordered the bar be shut down on Jan. 31. A hearing on the matter was continued to October to allow board members to consider the settlement made by Yerashunas.