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WILKES-BARRE — A Wilkes-Barre Township woman convicted of trying to kill her two young children should have her appeal denied in its entirety, a Luzerne County judge argues.
Melissa Scholl, 34, was found guilty in September of attempting to asphyxiate her children in the back seat of her car on Blackman Street in December 2015. Investigators found a garden hose running from the car’s exhaust pipe to one of the windows.
She was sentenced by Judge David W. Lupas to 10 to 30 years in state prison.
Defense attorney Larry Kansky filed an appeal last December, accusing Lupas of making numerous errors at trial, claiming Lupas allowed evidence to be improperly handled.
Lupas responded to each of Kansky’s allegations in his Wednesday filing.
He directed that his opinion go to the state Superior Court while it makes a determination on the appeal.
Kansky claimed prosecutors played a video interview with Scholl’s son Julian without adequately notifying the defense. Lupas counters that case law says an attorney cannot make allegations of error on appeal if they did not raise an objection during trial. He points out Kansky actually specifically said he had no issue with the video during the trial.
That case law is cited in many of Lupas’ rebuttals. He repeatedly notes Kansky failed to raise an objection during trial to alleged errors or that he did not file motions in a timely manner to suppress evidence he claims was illegally seized.
If the Superior Court were to grant Scholl another trial, it would be her third in the case. Her first ended in a mistrial last summer.