Wlasiuk trial moved to September; defense looks for change in venue
NORWICH – Another false start in the second murder trial of Peter Wlasiuk – now he’ll have to wait until September.
Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride confirmed Wednesday morning that Wlasiuk’s retrial has been adjourned until September. The trial had been set to begin with jury selection this coming Monday.
McBride declined to elaborate, except to say that the postponement, approved by acting Broome County Judge Martin Smith, came at the request of the defense.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Wlasiuk’s attorney, Randel Scharf of Cooperstown, said before the September trial date rolls around, he’ll be requesting a change of venue in the case.
“This guy is not going to get a fair trial in Chenango County,” Scharf said of his client. “Pete doesn’t trust anything about Norwich at all.”
Scharf said he was confident he could convince an Albany court to have the trial heard by Smith in his homebase of Binghamton instead of in Norwich.
“Norwich is so small, there’s nobody in the jury pool who hasn’t heard of Pete Wlasiuk or formed an opinion on the case due to all the local publicity,” he said. “That will be different in Binghamton.”
Charged with second-degree murder, Wlasiuk is accused of killing his wife Patricia, a former nurse at The Hospital in Sidney, in 2002. Patricia Wlasiuk’s body was found in Guilford Lake in April that year after what Peter Wlasiuk said was a truck accident. Police later claimed Wlasiuk killed his wife at their Oxford home, and staged the Guilford Lake accident to cover it up. Wlasiuk was convicted of the murder in 2003 and served three years in Attica, but that conviction was overturned on appeal in the summer of 2006.
Just this Monday, Judge Smith denied Scharf’s repeated requests to delay the May 12 start date due to what he claimed was incomplete information provided by the prosecution and a new round of tests to be performed on Patricia Wlasiuk’s blood.
Scharf said until his expert witness had time to analyze the new data – which he claimed may come up with a different time and/or cause of death scenario for Mrs. Wlasiuk – he would be unable to formulate a proper defense for his client. Scharf requested, and received, a similar postponement in March of this year.
Instead of another delay, Judge Smith ordered that the new blood tests be performed immediately, but wanted to be informed by Thursday if that was not possible. It is unknown at this time if that was the sole reason for the adjournment.
“We’re going to keep moving forward and get our experts lined up,” Scharf said of his defense strategy. “She (Patricia) drove into that lake and they know it. They changed the evidence to support their story and now it’s going to come back on them. This is going to blow up in their faces,” he said.
Wlasiuk will remain in custody at the Chenango County Correctional Facility in Norwich while awaiting his new trial date.
Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride confirmed Wednesday morning that Wlasiuk’s retrial has been adjourned until September. The trial had been set to begin with jury selection this coming Monday.
McBride declined to elaborate, except to say that the postponement, approved by acting Broome County Judge Martin Smith, came at the request of the defense.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Wlasiuk’s attorney, Randel Scharf of Cooperstown, said before the September trial date rolls around, he’ll be requesting a change of venue in the case.
“This guy is not going to get a fair trial in Chenango County,” Scharf said of his client. “Pete doesn’t trust anything about Norwich at all.”
Scharf said he was confident he could convince an Albany court to have the trial heard by Smith in his homebase of Binghamton instead of in Norwich.
“Norwich is so small, there’s nobody in the jury pool who hasn’t heard of Pete Wlasiuk or formed an opinion on the case due to all the local publicity,” he said. “That will be different in Binghamton.”
Charged with second-degree murder, Wlasiuk is accused of killing his wife Patricia, a former nurse at The Hospital in Sidney, in 2002. Patricia Wlasiuk’s body was found in Guilford Lake in April that year after what Peter Wlasiuk said was a truck accident. Police later claimed Wlasiuk killed his wife at their Oxford home, and staged the Guilford Lake accident to cover it up. Wlasiuk was convicted of the murder in 2003 and served three years in Attica, but that conviction was overturned on appeal in the summer of 2006.
Just this Monday, Judge Smith denied Scharf’s repeated requests to delay the May 12 start date due to what he claimed was incomplete information provided by the prosecution and a new round of tests to be performed on Patricia Wlasiuk’s blood.
Scharf said until his expert witness had time to analyze the new data – which he claimed may come up with a different time and/or cause of death scenario for Mrs. Wlasiuk – he would be unable to formulate a proper defense for his client. Scharf requested, and received, a similar postponement in March of this year.
Instead of another delay, Judge Smith ordered that the new blood tests be performed immediately, but wanted to be informed by Thursday if that was not possible. It is unknown at this time if that was the sole reason for the adjournment.
“We’re going to keep moving forward and get our experts lined up,” Scharf said of his defense strategy. “She (Patricia) drove into that lake and they know it. They changed the evidence to support their story and now it’s going to come back on them. This is going to blow up in their faces,” he said.
Wlasiuk will remain in custody at the Chenango County Correctional Facility in Norwich while awaiting his new trial date.
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