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WILKES-BARRE – Attorneys prosecuting the case of double homicide suspect Hugo Selenski have asked a Luzerne County judge to either schedule a pre-trial hearing or actual trial in the case, now that all appeals are complete.
Attorneys from the District Attorney’s Office made the request Friday after the state Supreme Court declined a request to hear Selenski’s appeal regarding the admissibility of testimony.
The ruling clears the way for a possible trial. A judge did not schedule a hearing date or trial date as of Friday.
The court on Thursday denied Selenski’s appeal of county Judge Chester Muroski’s ruling relating to the admissibility of statements that were made by the now deceased father of Michael Kerkowski.
Selenski is charged with killing Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett in 2002. Their bodies were unearthed at the home he shared with this girlfriend on Mount Olivet Road in Kingston Township in June 2003.
Muroski previously ruled a transcript of testimony given by Kerkowski’s father, who was also named Michael, could be admitted into evidence at the trial.
The elder Kerkowski had testified at Selenski’s preliminary hearing and was scheduled to testify at the trial, but he died in September 2006.
WILKES-BARRE – A district judge has scheduled a new preliminary hearing date for a woman charged in the July 2007 shooting death of her husband.
District Judge John Hasay scheduled a tentative hearing for April 6.
County Judge William Amesbury said in court papers filed Monday that Josephine Werkheiser, 56, of Creekside Lane, Ross Township, will have her case sent back for a preliminary hearing before District Judge John Hasay, who will decide if prosecutors have enough evidence to charge Werkheiser with homicide.
Werkheiser had previously been ruled incompetent to stand trial. Werkheiser had been charged with the shooting death of her husband, Charles Werkheiser, sometime between July 23 and July 29, 2007. Investigators allege Werkheiser shot her husband once in the head while he was sleeping because she suspected he was having an affair.
Police said Werkheiser then shot herself in the head with a .22-caliber handgun.
Werkheiser had been a patient at Norristown State Hospital. The hospital said in papers delivered to Mundy on Oct. 14 that she can work with her lawyer and proceed with her case.