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Thread: Hugo Selenski Sentenced to LWOP in 2002 PA Murders of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett

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    Hugo Selenski Sentenced to LWOP in 2002 PA Murders of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett


    Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett


    Hugo Selenski


    Selenski death penalty notice amended

    A conviction earlier this year for a home invasion in Monroe County could factor into whether Hugo Selenski is sentenced to death if he is convicted for a pair of Luzerne County killings.

    Prosecutors filed an amended notice of aggravating circumstances Thursday, citing Selenski's "significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence" as a ground for capital punishment in the murder case.

    Selenski is accused of killing Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett in May 2002. He was convicted in July on 14 charges related to the Monroe County home invasion, including robbery, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.

    According to Monroe County prosecutors, Selenski and a co-defendant broke into a secluded Chestnuthill Township home, bound the owner, Samuel Goosay, with duct tape, plastic ties and handcuffs, and held him at gunpoint while demanding $20,000.

    In their initial filing, Luzerne County prosecutors established three grounds for a death sentence for Selenski. They alleged Selenski committed the killings while committing another felony; that he had been convicted of another offense, a 1991 bank robbery, that could have been punishable by life in prison; and that he committed a previous killing, or two or more killings at the same time.

    http://www.standardspeaker.com/news/selenski_death_penalty_notice_amended?localLinksEn abled=false

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    December 23, 2009

    State high court rejects Selenski appeal

    The state Supreme Court refused Thursday to hear an appeal filed by attorneys for alleged killer Hugo Selenski, who want to keep evidence from his conviction in a home invasion case from being introduced in his upcoming homicide trial.

    Selenski, 36, faces the death penalty if convicted in the 2002 Luzerne County killings of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett, whose bodies were found buried behind his Kingston Township home in 2003.

    Selenski was convicted earlier this year for a home invasion/robbery in Monroe County and prosecutors in the homicide case want to introduce evidence that methods used in the robbery - including the use of plastic zip ties to bind the victim - were also used in the Kerkowski/Fassett murders.

    The state Supreme Court ruled in April that the evidence from Monroe County could be admitted, overruling Luzerne County Judge Chester B. Muroski.

    Selenski's attorneys asked the Supreme Court to review the Superior Court ruling, but the Supreme Court denied the request Thursday, clearing the way for the homicide trial.

    Selenski was sentenced in September to 32 and 1/2 to 62 years in the home invasion case.

    Selenski was acquitted in 2006 on two murder charges in the deaths of drug dealers Frank James and Adeiye Keiler, whose remains were also buried on his property, but he remained imprisoned after a conviction for abusing their corpses.

    Kerkowski, a Wyoming County pharmacist, disappeared in 2002 while awaiting sentencing on a conviction for illegally distributing prescription drugs.

    http://wcexaminer.com/sections/news/archive/2009/12/23/state-high-court-rejects-selenski-appeal.aspx

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    March 24, 2010

    Selenski murder case now June 3

    WILKES-BARRE - After years of appeals and legal plot twists, all Hugo Selenski wanted Thursday was a firm date for his trial on charges of killing two people and burying them behind his Kingston Township home.

    "I just want a certain date set in stone," Selenski said, speaking to Luzerne County Senior Judge Chester B. Muroski.

    "You have it," Muroski replied, ordering Selenski to stand trial June 3 in connection with the 2002 murders of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett, whose bodies were discovered a year later buried in the yard of a home Selenski shared with a former girlfriend.

    Muroski set the trial date after Selenski agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial. Had he not, the trial would have had to commence by May 7.

    Muroski wanted to allow time for Selenski's defense attorneys to file motions on his behalf, as well as to allow prosecutors to respond. The judge said it would be both impractical and impossible to begin the trial May 7, Muroski said.

    Selenski, who is already serving 32.5-65 years in state prison on a Monroe County home invasion conviction, faces the death penalty should he be convicted of the two murders.

    While June 3 could represent the beginning of the final chapter in Selenski's long account of criminal proceedings- which include both convictions and an acquittal- more than 15 years have passed as the story has developed.

    After a troubled youth, Selenski pleaded guilty to the 1994 robbery of a Plains Township bank. He left prison in 2001 and moved to the Kingston Township home in 2002. On June 5, 2003, police found the bodies of Kerkowski and Fassett buried in the yard, along with several others.

    In 2006, a jury acquitted Selenski of the murders of Frank James and Adeiye Keiler, two others whose bodies were found in the Kingston Township yard, but found him guilty of abusing their corpses.

    After multiple appeals, postponements and the reassignment of the case to several judges, Selenski again found himself in the Luzerne County Courthouse on Thursday. Three armed officers escorted a shackled Selenski into the third-floor courtroom, surrounding the man who once escaped from prison using a makeshift rope of bedsheets.

    Michael Kerkowski's mother, Gerry, sat in the right front row of benches before the proceedings began. When Selenski, who was originally sitting on the left side of the courtroom, moved to the right, Gerry Kerkowski shifted to the left side, sitting with other family members of the victims.

    Gerry Kerkowski declined to comment about the setting of a trial date, quietly leaving the courthouse. Attorneys could not comment on the case, either, because of a gag order.

    For the most part, Selenski also sat quietly, sometimes talking with attorneys. During one point, Selenski complained about a paper given to him which appeared to set a trial date in August. But Muroski said that was just a stock form, and it could be easily changed.

    During that exchange Selenski requested a solid start date for the trial, which he said would be enough for him to forgo his right to a speedy trial. And Muroski, the judge who last week vowed to finish the trial after a series of judicial swaps, returned it to him, gladly obliged.

    "It's June the third, Mr. Selenski," Muroski said. "It's June the third."

    http://wcexaminer.com/sections/news/archive/2010/03/24/selenski-murder-case-now-june-3.aspx

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    The capital murder trial of Hugo Selenski has been scheduled to begin Nov. 15.

    Selenski, 36, is facing the death penalty for the 2002 murders of Tunkhannock pharmacist Michael J. Kerkowski and Kerkowski's girlfriend, Tammy Fassett. He is already serving 32½ to 65 years for a conviction last year in a January 2003 Monroe County home invasion.

    Senior Judge Chester Muroski also scheduled Selenski's trial on escape charges for Oct. 12.

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in May that Selenski could be tried for his infamous escape from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in October 2003 while he was awaiting trial for the murder of two people.

    Prosecutors say Selenski opened a faulty window in a maximum security unit on the prison's fifth floor and used a make-shift rope of bed sheets to escape.

    The case has been in legal limbo for years, a subplot to Selenski's drawn-out saga in the criminal justice system that included an acquittal on double-murder charges, a second set of homicide charges and a conviction in a home invasion robbery case.

    http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/selenski-murder-trial-scheduled-for-nov-15-1.909658

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    August 24, 2010

    Hugo Selenski defends appeals of murder case rulings

    Attorneys for northeastern Pennsylvania double-murder defendant say their appeals of a judge's rulings are warranted because their client faces a possible death penalty.

    Prosecutors had said that 36-year-old Hugo Selenski was appealing the Luzerne County rulings in order to delay his scheduled Nov. 15 trial. But defense attorneys said Monday that the appeal would be part of a "vigorous defense."

    Selenski is charged with killing Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett, whose bodies were among many remains found on his land near Wilkes-Barre.

    The defense has asked for wording changes in rulings on the testimony one victim's father and a competency examination of Selenski's former co-defendant, Paul Weakley. Selenski is also charged in a 2003 escape from jail while awaiting trial on other murder charges. He was acquitted but is serving up to 65 years for a home invasion in Saylorsburg.

    http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100824/NEWS/100829915

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    Selenski pleads guilty to escape charges

    Accused killer Hugo Selenski has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his infamous escape from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in October 2003.

    Selenski, who repelled from a prison window on a rope made of bedsheets, faces up to nine years in prison.

    He is eligible for more than seven years time served and has agreed to waive sentencing until after the completion of his capital murder trial.

    Obstruction of justice charges against a witness, Catherine Falzone, have been withdrawn.

    Selenski had been scheduled to stand trial on the escape charges, a third-degree felony and a second-degree misdemeanor, on Oct. 12.

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in May that Selenski could be tried for the escape while awaiting trial for the alleged murders.

    Selenski's murder trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 15.

    Selenski, 36, is facing the death penalty for the 2002 murders of Tunkhannock pharmacist Michael J. Kerkowski and Kerkowski's girlfriend, Tammy Fassett. He is already serving 32½ to 65 years for a conviction last year in a January 2003 Monroe County home invasion.

    According to prosecutors, Selenski opened a faulty window in a maximum security unit on the prison's fifth floor and used a make-shift rope of bedsheets to make his October 2003 escape.

    The case has been in legal limbo for years, a subplot to Selenski's drawn-out saga in the criminal justice system that included an acquittal on an initial set of murder charges.

    http://citizensvoice.com/selenski-pleads-guilty-to-escape-charges-1.1015189

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    Abstract

    Selenski Pleads Guilty To Infamous Escape

    "It's not like I didn't do it," [Hugo Selenski] said as sheriff's deputies led he out of the Luzerne County Courthouse on Thursday. "I was there one day and I'm gone the next."

    "They dropped the charges against my aunt, I'm happy," Selenski said as he left the courthouse Thursday. "It was going on too long. It needed to be taken care of."

    Selenski's escape case has been in legal limbo for years, mired in Selenski's drawn-out odyssey in the criminal justice system that has included an acquittal on an initial set of murder charges. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in May that Selenski could be tried for the escape while awaiting trial for the alleged murders.

    http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/timessha...nfamous+Escape

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    WILKES-BARRE - Luzerne County double-homicide suspect Hugo Selenski's oft-delayed trial is on again - for now.

    A judge Thursday set June 27 for the start of jury selection, but attorneys involved in the case said the date was malleable and that pretrial wrangling could postpone the trial until the fall or later.

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys for Mr. Selenski must raise any pretrial objections by June 15, Senior Judge Chester B. Muroski said during a short scheduling hearing.

    Mr. Selenski, facing a possible death penalty for murdering a Tunkhannock pharmacist and the pharmacist's girlfriend in 2002, appeared set for trial after the state Supreme Court last month said it would not hear the latest in a string of appeals from his attorneys.

    http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/reg...#ixzz1Ivk1NCDs

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    Selenski trial is delayed again

    The scheduled June homicide trial for suspect Hugo Selenski has again been put on hold in Luzerne County Court.

    In court papers filed Friday, Selenski’s attorney, John Pike, filed a request to continue the trial from its June 27 date because an expert that defense attorneys intend to call in the possible sentencing phase of Selenski’s trial is unavailable throughout 2011.

    Selenski, 37, faces the death penalty in the case if convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors say he is responsible for the deaths of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett. Their bodies were unearthed from Selenski’s Kingston Township home in June 2003.

    “…(Selenski) would be substantially prejudiced without the presentation of mitigation evidence at the penalty phase of his trial in the event he is found guilty of murder in the first degree,” Pike wrote.

    The mitigation expert is unavailable throughout 2011, Pike said, because of other state and federal death penalty trial commitments.

    The order granting the continuance was signed by President Judge Thomas Burke on behalf of the judge presiding over the case, Senior Judge Chester Muroski.

    Burke said that Selenski’s trial is continued “generally” and that a new trial date will be scheduled within 90 days when a pre-trial hearing is held.

    Selenski’s trial on the charges has previously been delayed for years while attorneys appealed rulings made by Muroski and awaited decisions.

    The most recent was in March when the state Supreme Court declined to hear Selenski’s appeal of a ruling regarding the admissibility of testimony of Michael Kerkowski Sr.

    Muroski previously ruled that a transcript of testimony given by the elder Kerkowski could be admitted into evidence at the trial.

    The elder Kerkowski had testified at Selenski’s preliminary hearing and was scheduled to testify at the trial, but he died in September 2006.

    The judge also ruled that prosecutors are prohibited from using a recorded telephone conversation Selenski allegedly had with Michael Kerkowski Sr.

    http://www.timesleader.com/news/Sele...6-03-2011.html

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    Justice delayed

    MESHOPPEN – It seemed too good to be true to Lisa Sands and her sister Sandra Owen.

    Painfully waiting nine years for justice in the killing of their sister, Tammy Fassett, Sands and Owen were looking forward to sitting in a Luzerne County courtroom for the death penalty trial of Hugo Selenski.

    Jury selection was set to begin Monday.

    That was until President Judge Thomas Burke Jr. delayed Selenski’s trial after a request by attorney John Pike.

    “When we got word the trial was going to take place after patiently waiting and crying all these years, we felt relieved,” Sands said, her tone quickly changing. “We should have known better. What the hell is going on down there in Luzerne County?”

    Burke signed the request on behalf of Senior Judge Chester Muroski on June 3 without giving prosecutors a say in the matter.

    Pike wanted the trial postponed, saying his mitigation specialist, expected to be called to testify in the event of a conviction, is unavailable for the remainder of the year because of other commitments in state and federal capital court proceedings.

    The mitigation specialist was not named in Pike’s motion.

    “Hugo has more rights than we do as victims,” said an angered Sands. “Somebody should have spoken up and asked for a hearing to find out why this expert can’t be here.”

    Investigators believe Fassett and Michael Kerkowski were killed in May 2002 at Kerkowski’s Hunlock Township home and buried in a shallow grave outside the Kingston Township house Selenski then occupied. Their bodies were discovered June 5, 2003, along with the charred remains of Adeiye Keiler, Frank James and an unidentified person.

    A Luzerne County jury acquitted Selenski in the slayings of Keiler and James after a two- week trial in March 2006. He was convicted, however, of abusing their bodies, which he burned in a pit on the 6-acre property on Mount Olivet Road.

    After the 2006 trial, then District Attorney David Lupas charged Selenski with the strangulation murders of Fassett and Kerkowski.

    Since then, Selenski’s trial has been scheduled and delayed numerous times because of appeals.

    “With all these delays, I don’t cry anymore,” Sands said. “I feel more resentment, hatred towards a lot of people than I do anything else. This has been going on for so long, it will be a decade next May when our sister was killed.”

    Sands said she was unaware of any prosecutorial strategy by Lupas to seek separate trials for Selenski, 37, for the confirmed remains recovered at his former house. She alleges Lupas broke a promise to her family when he successfully campaigned for county judge rather than focus on prosecuting Selenski for the murders of Fassett and Kerkowski.

    “Dave said to us after that (March 2006) trial was over that he was going to see the next trial through to the end,” Sands said. “That is what he told me and my family in the courthouse. When I found out he was running for judge, I blew my top.”

    “Dave said, ‘I promise I’m going to see this case through,’ ” Owen recalled. “We know what happened after that.”

    A message left on a voicemail at Lupas’ courthouse chambers was not returned on Friday.

    Sands said she remains confident current District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll will prosecute Selenski when the trial takes place. Musto Carroll has a team of investigators and assistant district attorneys helping her prepare for the trial.

    “When Jackie took over the case, I thought maybe two or three years at the latest. Jackie was working her fingers to the bone to get this case going. But I never dreamed my whole life that it would take this long to try somebody for murder. I see all these other people down there in Luzerne County going through the system and getting done and over with. I just want to scream,” Sands said.

    “Unbelievable, we sit here and watch the news and hear about another homicide case going through the system in Luzerne County,” Owen said.

    According to court records, there have been 72 homicide cases in Luzerne County Court since June 5, 2003. Fifty-six cases have been settled by conviction, guilty plea or acquittal.

    “How much longer does this have to go on before we see justice?” Sands asked. “I see case after case down there getting closed, and we’re still sitting here and I’m not feeling any better. It is not fair to any of us.”

    http://www.timesleader.com/news/Just...6-26-2011.html

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