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’08 murder rate not as bad as first feared EDWARD LEWIS OPINION

Monday December 01, 2008 | 12:00 AM

I have to say, I initially believed 2008 was going to be a bad year for homicides in Luzerne County.

I remember having that thought while standing in frigid temperatures outside a ranch-style house on Heslop Road in Rice Township on Jan. 25.

Troopers with the state police at Hazleton were inside the residence where they say Charles Oleski gunned down his wife, Maureen Ann, and son Christian.

Maureen and Christian became the second and third homicide victims at that point.

Eleven days earlier, a 3-month-old boy from West Hazleton died in a hospital from what investigators called a case of shaken baby syndrome.

Accused in the infant’s death were his mother, Tiffany Simmons, charged with involuntary manslaughter, and her boyfriend, Alan D. Leitzel, charged with criminal homicide, according to court records.

Five more homicides would take place before the end of June.

I don’t necessarily trust statistics, but the homicide rate was on pace to reach 16 murders by year’s end. It appeared there were going to be more homicides than the previous year.

There were 14 people murdered in 2007 and 16 people in 2006, according to a compilation of court records and The Times Leader archives.

Since July 1, there have been three homicides -- a fatal drunken-driving crash in Bear Creek Township in August, a fatal shooting inside a Plymouth tavern in September and a fatal shooting at a Wilkes-Barre street corner in October.

Many would believe most of the 41 people killed in the last three years were murdered in Wilkes-Barre.

True, but not as bad as you might think.

Police clear most cases

Ten people were killed in the county’s most populated city since January 2006.

In fact, Wilkes-Barre went 340 days from July 14, 2007 to June 19 without a murder.

There were six murders in Hazleton, three in Edwardsville and two in Avoca, Plains Township and Plymouth the last three years. Sixteen municipalities recorded one murder each.

An interesting statistic I came across in my fact-checking is the homicide clearance rate since 2006.

Certainly a credit to law enforcement, 92.6 percent of the murders the past three years resulted in someone being charged with homicide. Three homicides since 2006 remain open, the reason for a not 100 percent clearance rate.

No one has been arrested for the fatal shooting of Patricia Moreton inside a Hazle Avenue, Wilkes-Barre, home on Jan. 31, 2006, for the fatal hit-and-run of Ronald Lloyd George on state business Route 309 in Wilkes-Barre Township on Nov. 2, 2007, and for the fatal shooting of Aaron Baxter, 23, inside a Sherman Hills apartment in Wilkes-Barre on June 19.

A defense attorney can argue if George’s unfortunate death can be seen as a homicide.

I’m sure there wasn’t any intent to kill George, who enjoyed early morning walks. But the driver never stopped to take responsibility.

And, then there is Marc Smith, 27, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who was charged by Wilkes-Barre police with criminal homicide for a fatal shooting in a city bar in January 2006, according to arrest records. Smith remains at-large.

The second half of 2008 has been unlike the first six months.

November came to a close without a homicide. Other months this year without a murder were March and July.

Let’s hope December ends the way November did.

About the Author

Ed Lewis covers police news for the Times Leader. Reach him at elewis@timesleader.com.

Ed Lewis covers police for The Times Leader. A graduate of Hanover Area, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from King’s College where he also minored in political science. He interned for Congressman Paul E. Kanjorski in Washington, D.C., while in college, and formerly was an assignment editor and managing editor before finding his niche covering the very busy police beat. His hobbies include lifting weights, kickboxing, reading, carpentry, gardening, model trains and sports, especially football.