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Judge rules former secretary to stand trial
A former Carnegie police secretary accused of stealing nearly $70,000 from the borough will stand trial, a district judge ruled Tuesday.
Margaret Partee, 61, of Carnegie, pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and receiving stolen property.
An upbeat Partee left without comment. Her lawyer, David S. Shrager, said people must analyze "all the paper gathered by borough and county police to determine whether it begins to establish any evidence against my client."
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Man tried to flush roommate down toilet
A Carnegie man tried to chop his roommate into small enough pieces to flush down the toilet, but gave up after becoming nauseated, a detective testified today.
Baldwin told police he was angry and full of rage when he killed Martin and also that he was frightened of Martin, the detective said. Baldwins attorney, David S. Shrager, said his client, who is 5-foot-8, was trying to protect himself against Martin, who was about 6-foot-2.
He was a much bigger man than my client, and he struck the first blows to my client with a hammer, Shrager said. My client was afraid.
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Judge asked to suppress statements in shooting
A Fayette County man accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife's lover wants a judge to suppress any statements he made to police before he was advised of his Miranda rights.
Less than 20 minutes after the incident, Prinkey called state police to say that he had shot Cononico, according to state police at Uniontown. Prinkey's attorney, David S. Shrager, contends the defendant made statements while he was "under duress and coercion."
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Man placed on house arrest until rape trial
An 18-year-old Fayette County man will be held under house arrest and restricted from going to Saltlick and Springfield townships while awaiting trial on charges he raped a chronically ill woman after breaking into her home last month.
Prinkey was represented yesterday by attorney David S. Shrager, who is the defense counsel for Prinkey's father, Raymond Michael "Mike" Prinkey, 49, of Springfield Township, in a homicide case.
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Estranged husband seeks bond changes
Prinkey's attorney, David Shrager, contends the Prinkeys need to have some contact because they will be selling their marital properties, a house and an apartment building.
The Prinkeys' children also are affected by the conditions, Shrager argued in a motion, because a daughter lives with Raymond Prinkey but has to arrange transportation to Lori Prinkey's Connellsville apartment for home-schooling.
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Suspect can return to work
Prinkey's attorney, David Shrager, has argued that prosecutors do not have a good case for a first-degree murder conviction. Prinkey's friends and family have said they would be able to post $100,000 on his behalf.
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Judge asked to suppress statements in shooting
A Fayette County man accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife's lover wants a judge to suppress any statements he made to police before he was advised of his Miranda rights.
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Man Accused of killing wife's Boyfriend seeks bail
A Fayette County man accused of ambushing and killing his wife's boyfriend asked a judge Thursday to set bond so he may work while he awaits trial.
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Normalville man ordered to stand trial
A Fayette County woman calmly testified Tuesday that her jilted husband instructed her to hang up during an emergency telephone call to police.
- Girl, 14, to be tried as juvenile in arson that killed firefighter
- Downtown after-hours club padlocked for 5 days
- Brentwood drops Vojtas appeal
- Clairton man faces trial in officer's shooting
- Judge denies bail in fatal pipe bombing
- Boyfriend charged in arson that killed two in Connellsville
- Man guilty of murder of Omar Massey-Wideman
- New trial in 1993 slaying of Omar Massey-Wideman
- Armed homicide witness refuses to give up gun to testify
- Man's unsolved 1989 killing yields only anger, frustration
Shrager, a pleasant, energetic man with a flair for drama and a talent for detail, took the state’s case apart as no one else had. From day one, he intended to prove that the so-called scheme was nothing more than the desperate plot of a pair of desperate men to extort two wealthy landfill owners.
For days, Shrager grilled Smith. He stressed the inconsistencies, the changes in the story as told by Brad Smith over the years. He pointed to the possibility that $5,000 Zdrale gave Smith came not from Fiore but from a Jeanette physician eager to get a lead on a load of precious metals stolen in 1980, a theft that authorities believed Smith was somehow involved in.
“This case has everything. It’s like the Maltese Falcon,” said Shrager.
Win or lose, he knew it would be a story he’d tell for years to come. As he waited nervously for the jury to come back, Shrager chuckled, saying his grandchildren would probably be saying, “Oh no, not the Zdrale story again,” at some distant date in the future.
Eight hours later, a jury of six men and six women acquitted Zdrale.
