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WILKES-BARRE — Convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski believes he deserves a new trial.

He claims multiple judicial mistakes were made, including the removal of his long-term defense lawyer. He also alleges prosecutors should have notified the defense that they planned to advocate for a reduce federal sentence for a key witness in the murder trial.

Selenski, 41, through his court-appointed attorney, Edward Rymsza, filed his reasons Friday in Luzerne County Court why a new trial should be granted as he appeals his conviction with the state Superior Court.

A jury in February convicted Selenski of two counts of first-degree murder in the May 3, 2002, flex-tie strangulation killings of Michael Jason Kerkowski and Tammy Lynn Fassett. The same jury a week later spared Selenski the death penalty, which forced the presiding judge, Fred Pierantoni III, to sentence him to two consecutive terms of life in prison.

Selenski was formally sentenced March 27. He was also sentenced to 56 to 120 years in prison on conspiracy and robbery charges, which will begin when he completes a sentence of 32 1/2 to 65 years imposed by a Monroe County judge for his July 2009 conviction in the Monroe County home invasion and robbery of jewelry store owner Samuel Goosay in January 2003.

State police at Wyoming and county detectives alleged Kerkowski and Fassett were killed inside Kerkowski’s Hunlock Township home.

Selenski and Paul Weakley went to Kerkowski’s house planning to rob him of money as Selenski needed $11,000 to cover a check his then-girlfriend, Christina Strom, issued at the real estate closing for 479 Mount Olivet Road, Kingston Township, on April 30, 2002. Fassett was at the house doing yard work with Kerkowski when Selenski and Weakley arrived, according to court records.

The bodies of Kerkowski and Fassett were unearthed from a shallow grave outside the Mount Olivet Road residence on June 5, 2003, a day after Weakley disclosed to county Det. Lt. Gary Capitano that the corpses would be found on the property.

Issues Selenski claims why he should be awarded a new trial:

• Selenski’s right to counsel of his choice was violated when Attorney Shelley Centini was removed from defending him by Pierantoni on Feb. 10. At the time, Centini was facing charges she tampered with witnesses in the homicide case. Tampering charges against Centini were dismissed by a district judge in Dauphin County in June 2014. Centini was appointed to defend Selenski in January 2012.

“A new trial should be granted because (Pierantoni) granted the (prosecutors) motion to disqualify Attorney Centini when that motion was baseless and unnecessary and its grounds were concocted by (prosecutors) to create a conflict and deprive Mr. Selenski of his counsel of his choice,” the appeal says.

• Selenski, Rymsza and co-trial lawyer, Bernard Brown, were unaware prosecutors had planned to testify on behalf of Strom when she was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas I. Vanaski on June 5. Strom had pleaded guilty to money laundering and giving false information before a federal grand jury.

Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino testified at Strom’s sentencing hearing saying Strom was a critical witness who helped prosecutors build a “strong case” against Selenski.

Strom was sentenced to one year, one day in federal prison and two years of supervised release. She is scheduled to report to a federal prison on or before Aug. 4.

“(Prosecutors) failed to disclose that it had agreed to advocate for Ms. Strom at her federal sentencing hearing and that a motion to reduce her sentencing exposure based upon her cooperation had already been filed back in 2007,” Selenski’s appeal reads.

Selenski claims the withholding of prosecutors supporting a reduced sentence for Strom was “highly damaging impeachment evidence.”

• Selenski claims errors by Pierantoni who failed to provide to the jury that Weakley’s cooperation could not be used as evidence against Selenski, and prosecutors pressured Weakley into testifying when Weakley in December said he would refused to testify.

• Pierantoni mistakenly allowed the preliminary hearing testimony of Ernest Culp to be read to the jury. Culp died Sept. 13. He allegedly saw Selenski and Weakley holding shovels in the area where the bodies were unearthed.

• Pierantoni mistakenly allowed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to testify about how Kerkowski died from blunt force trauma. Selenski believes Baden made the ruling eight years after Kerkowski’s autopsy in June 2003.

• Pierantoni mistakenly allowed Wyoming County Judge Brendan Vanston to testify during Selenski’s homicide trial.

Vanston was the presiding judge over court proceedings of Kerkowski, a pharmacist who was charged with selling pain medications without prescriptions.

A court-ordered issued April 15 appointed Rymsza to continue to represent Selenski during the appellate phase. Rymsza will be compensated at a rate of $110 per hour with a total compensation capped at $15,000 unless modified by further order.

Hugo Selenski leaves the Luzerne County Courthouse on March 27 when he was sentenced to life in prison.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Hugo-Selenski-3-28-15.jpg.optimal.jpgHugo Selenski leaves the Luzerne County Courthouse on March 27 when he was sentenced to life in prison. Clark Van Orden | Times Leader

By Ed Lewis

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Reach Ed Lewis at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TLEdLewis