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By CHARLES H. BOGINO; Times Leader Staff Writer
Thursday, February 03, 1994 Page: 4A QUICK WORDS: DA WANTS ALIBI QUASHED
WILKES-BARRE — District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. has asked
Luzerne County Judge Gifford S. Cappellini not to allow Charles Plummer to use
an alibi defense when he stands trial next week in the killing of a
Wilkes-Barre man.
Plummer, who is accused of shooting 30-year-old Anthony Dawkins last
September, had filed a notice with the court last month saying he intended to
call witnesses to say he was somewhere else when Dawkins was shot outside his
Hill Street home.
At first, police called the Labor Day weekend incident a drive-by shooting.
But witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing held a few weeks after the
shooting that Plummer walked up to Dawkins, threw a cigarette at his chest,
then shot him in the neck.
Dawkins, a bakery worker and father of a 9-year-old girl, died in a
hospital six days later.
Plummer, 46, of Hazle Street, has been held without bail in the Luzerne
County Correctional Facility since his arrest.
On Jan. 7, Cappellini granted Plummer an extension of time to notify the
court about where he was at the time of the shooting and the names of
witnesses who could verify it.
On Tuesday, Olszewski filed a document with the court, arguing that because
Plummer has yet to file the papers he shouldn’t be allowed to at all.
Olszewski said that because the trial is next week, his office wouldn’t have
enough time to investigate Plummer’s alibi.
Plummer’s trial is expected to begin Tuesday, with Assistant District
Attorneys Michael T. Vough and Michael G. Nast prosecuting. Gerald J. Wassil
and Demetrius Fannick are representing Plummer.