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WILKES-BARRE — Was it a desperate cry for help or a carefully crafted plan so someone would find a “big, dramatic, gruesome” scene the next morning?
The jury in charge of deciding the fate of Melissa Ann Scholl was hopelessly deadlocked after about seven hours of deliberations Friday.
At 7:30 p.m., county Judge David Lupas declared a mistrial.
The jurors came to Lupas twice claiming they were deadlocked — once at 4 p.m. and again at 6 p.m.
“We can’t change each other’s minds,” the first note from the jury stated.
Scholl, 33, of Wilkes-Barre, was on trial for attempted homicide. Prosecutors allege she tried to kill her two children, then ages 5 and 7, by running a garden hose from her car’s tailpipe to its driver’s-side window in the parking lot of Williams Bus Line on Blackman Street.
The defense quickly rested Friday morning after deciding Scholl wouldn’t testify on her own behalf.
It was then on to closing arguments.
Larry Kansky, Scholl’s attorney, alleged prosecutors “failed in duty to truth” by “sloppy police work.”
“The truth is what Melissa Scholl did on Dec. 9, 2015, is a cry for help to specifically her mother,” Kansky said
During his hour-long argument, Kansky said the commonwealth “botched the case” against Scholl in several ways, including Wilkes-Barre Township police failing to conduct a “real investigation.” He also called into question the reliability of several law enforcement witnesses.
Kansky took aim at testimony from State Police Cpl. Joseph Pericci, who collected evidence from the car and wrote “death investigation” on his initial report.
“Did you see anyone who died?” Kansky asked the jury.
Scholl’s attorney reminded the jurors Pericci was “fumbling” over his words on the stand. “He’s a mess,” he said.
Kansky said the commonwealth wanted to prove Scholl’s intent by “text messages and photos … that’s it.”
Robert Shinal, who happened upon Scholl and her children in the parking lot, called his supervisor before calling 911, Kansky recalled.
“Who first calls their supervisor?” he asked.
The defense attorney maintains several items, including pillows, a blanket and a packed suitcase — which are now missing — show Scholl intended to give the children to her mother, Angelita Stanton.
“Are they trying to hide exculpatory evidence?” Kansky asked, telling the jury a blanket and pillows usually mean a sleepover when children are that young.
“The thing about a blanket and pillows is they are for going to sleep; as if you were going to kill yourself poisoned with carbon monoxide,” prosecutor Sam Sanguedolce countered during his argument.
Sanguedolce said Kansky wanted the jurors to weigh facts separately, but the jurors should “look at the big picture … it’s put together like a puzzle.”
Though there were several pieces of evidence in dispute, Sanguedolce said there were also undisputed facts, such as Scholl driving the car with the children in the backseat to the lot and telling her son “this would be last time I’d hug you.”
“No one is disputing that,” Sanguedolce said.
The mistrial does not mean Scholl will go free.
She was sent back to Luzerne County Correctional Facility to await a July 7 status conference with Lupas. Kansky made a motion to lower her bail or send her home with an ankle monitor. Lupas denied the requests.
Scholl did not address the media as she was led back to jail.