Melnick and his team of prosecutors are trying to have Fannick disqualified from the case because his past discussions with Kerekes create a conflict of interest, they said … Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said he will first decide that issue before ruling on the evidence issue … Fannick has to file a response to Melnick’s motion by Feb. 29. The judge also wants Kerekes’ attorneys to determine if an actual or potential conflict exists with Fannick’s representation of Cuadra, whether Kerekes can waive that conflict, and, if he can, will he waive it. That, too, has to be filed by Feb. 29. A hearing on the issue is set for 8:30 a.m. March 5. TimesLeader

The way Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr handled that idiot motion from Assistant DA Melnick to Disqualify Demetrius Fannick as Harlow Cuadra’s lawyer provides us with a glimpse into exactly how dumb District Attorneys like Marsha Clark (OJ Trial) and Thomas Sneddon (Michael Jackson Trial) managed to win so many convictions before they were made to look like complete fools by high priced lawyers in high profile criminal case. The Marsha Clarks and Thomas Sneedons of the world probably managed to win so many convictions in their idiot careers because they had the help of “sympathetic judges”.

Assistant DA Melnick’s Motion to Disqualify Demetrius Fannick Makes Not Sense

The Motion by Assistant DA Melnick to Disqualify Demetrius Fannick is actually a Legal Joke.

Melnick’s motion to Disqualify Fannick might just be a clue as to why Melnick was passed-over for the “Second in Command Job” by new DA Jackie Musto-Carroll.

If you blinked yesterday, you might have missed the fact that That Dumbass Motion filed by Assistant DA Melnick to Disqualify Demetrius Fannick as Harlow Cuadra’s lawyer has now become The Court’s Motion. DA Melnick has no standing to file motions on behalf of a death penalty defendant. However, The Court has standing to, on its own motion, to question if there might be harm to Joseph Kerekes with Demetrius Fannick representing Harlow Cuadra.

The simple fact of the matter is that The Luzerne County DA has no standing to file motions on behalf of Joseph Kerekes. The fact that DA Melnick filed such a motion and then didn’t even have the common decency to amend the motion makes you wonder if DA Melnick intends to totally rely on a “sympathetic Court” to get convictions against Cuadra and Kerekes.

If DA Melnick had any “sense of “shame” whatsoever, he would have at the very least amended his motion to re-phrase the motion in such a way that the DA’s Office would be in the position of asking the court to consider whether there is a conflict of interest in Fannick representing Harlow Cuadra, rather than the DA’s Office being in the position of filing a motion on behalf of a defendant in a death penalty case.

Do you get the point?

DA Melnick has no standing to file motions on behalf of Joseph Kerekes but DA Melnick DOES have standing to petition the Court to consider whether Kerekes might be harmed by Fannick representing Cuadra.

All of this may sound like splitting hairs. However, shouldn’t the public expect DA’s and Judges to comply with the letter of the law in death penalty murder cases?

As I said, the way Judge Olszewiki has handled the motion from DA Melnick to disqualify Fannick provides us with a glimpse into how DA Melnick thinks AND a glimpse into how Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr thinks.

AT THE VERY LEAST, we now know that Judge Olszewiski is MINDFUL of not making DA Melnick look like a total idiot.

STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE LAW, as I see it, would have had Olszewiski denying Melnick’s Motion on Wednesday on the grounds that The DA’s Office has no standing to file motions on behalf of Joseph Kerekes.

No Go Without Kerekes’s Lawyers

Even with THE HELP of Judge Olszewiski, I personally don’t see how Judge Olszewiski can disqualify Demetrius Fannick as Harlow Cuadra’s lawyer without Kerekes’ Lawyers asking Olszewiski to do so. Especially when the “the law of the case” is that The Court itself created a “conflict of counsel issue” resulting in harm to Cuadra when The Court assigned Bryan Kocis’ Lawyers to represent Cuadra.

FROM WHERE I SIT, it is settled law that Kerekes is the only party who can claim that he would be harmed by Fannick representing Cuadra. And, even if the Court decides (independent of Cuadra) that there is some conflict “potentially” harmful to Kerekes with Fannick representing Cuadra, Kerekes has the authority to WAIVE his right to protest that conflict.

Judge Olszewiski may have helped save DA Melnick from being laughed at by the “lay public”. However, District Attorney Jackie Musto-Carroll HAS to feel that her decision to NOT make Melnick Second-In-Command at the Luzerne County DA’s Office was a good decision.