Cops' trial up to judge
A judge will now decide whether suspended Old Forge Police Chief Larry Semenza and police Capt. Jamie Krenitsky should be tried together on charges they sexually assaulted a teenage girl.
During a lengthy pre-trial hearing in Lackawanna County Court on Thursday, the officers' attorneys argued that their clients should be allowed to have separate jury trials rather than the prosecution's desire to bring both men before one jury.
The captain's attorney, Jason Mattioli, and the chief's attorney, Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., asked Judge Vito P. Geroulo to consider their contention that a joint trial could make it very difficult for them to get a fair trial.
Mr. Mattioli worried that two top-ranking police officers accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl on trial together would incite a "heightened emotional response," rather than an impartial verdict based on evidence and testimony.
"We're trying to stay away from the mob mentality," Mr. Mattioli said.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer McCambridge, who is prosecuting the case, argued that the law allows the officers to be tried together because the allegations involved the "same act."
Both men are charged with sexually assaulting the same teenage girl around the same period of time in 2005, she said. The charges do state the girl, now 23, was alone with each officer on separate occasions, a fact the officers' attorneys pointed out while arguing why they should not be tried together.
Also Thursday, Judge Geroulo heard arguments from both sides whether the prosecution can call one expert witness to testify about the woman's "delayed disclosure" of the allegations.
She told investigators in May about her alleged sexual relationships with the 49-year-old chief and 34-year-old captain, seven years after she said it happened at the borough Fire Department.
Contact the writer: smcconnell@ timesshamrock.com, @smcconnellTT on Twitter