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WILKES-BARRE — A Hazleton man who’s been waiting for years to go to trial on homicide charges must wait several more months.
Terrence Clarke, 31, once again had his trial delayed, this time because the defense team has not yet gotten an expert report it commissioned.
Clarke, whose last known address was in Hazleton, is accused of fatally shooting Gary Cox, 45, and injuring Guillermo Quinonnes outside the since-closed Shaker’s Nightclub on North Broad Street on Feb. 2, 2014.
Investigators say a fight broke out between Clarke and Quinonnes inside the club about 2 a.m., which culminated with Clarke shooting toward a crowd.
Cox was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, while Quinonnes suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks and survived.
Clarke was most recently set to go to trial this week on counts of homicide and aggravated assault, but it was postponed due to a motion for continuance from defense attorney Demetrius Fannick. At a pretrial conference Tuesday, Fannick said the delay was necessary, as the defense had not yet received an expert report it had commissioned on use of force.
Luzerne County Judge Fred A. Pierantoni III, who is presiding over the case, rescheduled Clarke’s trial for Sept. 16.
A final pretrial conference will occur Aug. 15.
Clarke’s trial has been tied up for years due to an appeal filed by the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors challenged a ruling by Pierantoni that denied a request to compel Clarke to offer proof that the use of deadly force was made in self-defense.
The state Superior Court refused to hear the appeal in late 2017, claiming it did not have jurisdiction.
Pierantoni has previously told Assistant District Attorney Brian Coleman and Fannick he will hear arguments at the time of trial and outside the presence of a jury if Clarke raises a self-defense claim.
Clarke remains locked up at SCI Mercer in western Pennsylvania, having been sentenced in October 2014 to two to four years for illegal possession of a firearm. That charge comes from the same incident, but was severed from the homicide charges and tried separately.
Clarke will remain behind bars pending his homicide trial.