No mandatory sentence to be sought for Russin

WILKES-BARRE – Prosecutors said Wednesday they will not seek a specific prison sentence for the one-time co-defendant of murder suspect Hugo Selenski, who, in 2003, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder and other charges.

Patrick Raymond Russin, 41, of Dallas, appeared in Luzerne County Court with his attorney, William Ruzzo.

Under the terms of his original November 2003 guilty plea, prosecutors said they would be seeking a mandatory 20- to 40-year prison sentence for Russin.

Deputy District Attorney David Pedri said Wednesday in an amended plea agreement that prosecutors will no longer seek a mandatory sentence for Russin, and will leave that up to Senior Judge Chester Muroski.

Pedri said that because of Russin’s cooperation with authorities, they were no longer seeking a mandatory 20- to 40-year sentence.

Russin and Selenski, 38, had been charged with killing Frank Jermaine James, 29, of Wilkes-Barre, and Adeiye Keiler, 22, of Kingston, on May 14, 2003, and burning the bodies. Police have said James and Keiler were drug dealers.

Selenski was later found not guilty in their deaths but guilty of abuse of corpse in March 2006.

Russin pleaded guilty to charges including two counts of third-degree murder, two counts of robbery, two counts of abuse of a corpse and one count of criminal conspiracy.

Muroski said Wednesday he intended to sentence Russin in the standard range of guidelines, and that his sentencing will be postponed until after Selenski begins his trial on other homicide charges in the May 2002 deaths of Tammy Fassett and Michael Kerkowski, whose remains were also unearthed from Selenski’s Kingston Township property.

Pedri said that as part of Russin’s amended guilty plea, he must continue to cooperate with investigators and testify truthfully at any further trials involving Selenski.