Click here to subscribe today or Login.
A third Luzerne County department request for more funding in 2019 due to capital cases — this time for $70,000 — prompted citizen Mark Rabo to question the sense of even pursuing the death penalty.
Speaking during public comment at this week’s council budget work session, the Hazleton man believes it would be more feasible for the district attorney’s office to settle for seeking life without the possibility of parole, largely because Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was elected to another four-year term and has said he won’t sign off on an execution.
“That would be more cost effective, and you wouldn’t be able to get the death penalty in Pennsylvania because the governor put a moratorium over it,” Rabo said.
The DA’s office is pursuing the death penalty against 52-year-old Joseph John Marchetti and Anthony Spudis, 36, citing the severity of their alleged crimes.
District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said Wednesday her response is the same as it was when Councilman Stephen A. Urban raised the same issue earlier this year: She has a legal obligation to seek the death penalty if certain factors are met.
“As stated in the past, I follow the law,” she said.
Salavantis said she strives to save tax dollars when possible but cannot allow the cost of prosecuting or defending cases to drive decisions on seeking justice.
Prosecutors also sometimes use the death penalty as a bargaining chip to obtain a life sentence plea, which could save the time and expense of a trial.
Marchetti is accused of beating and then shooting his girlfriend, Antoinette Wilkinson, 46, at their Foster Township home in January. Prosecutors also say Marchetti beat Wilkinson’s mother, Barbara Wilkinson, 72, with a lead-filled club, then dragged her into the room where her daughter lay before shooting himself in the face. The younger woman passed away as a result of the attack.
Spudis faces criminal homicide, burglary and robbery charges for allegedly breaking into 97-year-old Gertrude Price’s Nanticoke home in 2013 and stabbing her several times in the head when she confronted him.
The public defender’s office is representing Marchetti, and the county court retained outside legal counsel in the Spudis case due to a conflict with the public defender and conflict counsel offices, officials said.
Expenses adding up
A council majority had approved an $80,000 budget reserve transfer in July to cover public defender’s office expenses for expert witnesses and a mitigation specialist in the death penalty case it is handling.
The public defender’s proposed 2019 budget seeks a $15,000 increase for experts and a mitigation specialist for the capital case, which would raise its examinations/witnesses budget category from $85,000 to $100,000.
In the DA’s office, Salavantis is requesting $100,000 more for expenses related to both pending capital cases next year, for a new total of $110,000.
Court administration presented its request this week for $70,000 more due to the capital case defense it must fund.
Councilwoman Sheila Saidman sought an explanation of that expense.
Court Administrator Michael Shucosky said the courts must secure and fund private outside defense counsel when it cannot be provided by the assistant public defenders or conflict counsel. He estimated only approximately 20 outside attorneys in Northeastern Pennsylvania have the required certification in death penalty cases, which creates a “seller’s market” commanding higher fees in addition to other litigation expenses.
The courts have retained attorney Robert Saurman, of Monroe County, to represent Spudis, records show. Shucosky said he cannot discuss the amount of the fees because payment records have been sealed, which is common before a capital case is adjudicated.
Council is set to vote on the 2019 budget Dec. 11. The administration proposed a 3 percent real estate tax increase.