Convicted killer Hugo Selenski back in court for appeal
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Mar. 13—Convicted killer Hugo Selenski was back in Luzerne County Court on Friday, but this time he appeared by video conference from state prison.
Selenski, 47, who was convicted of double murder at trial in 2015 and is serving life in prison, is appealing his conviction by claiming his trial attorneys were ineffective.
The hearing, a continuation of an initial hearing in October, was part of a Post-Conviction Relief Act appeal filed by Selenski.
Selenski previously testified he received an "incompetent" defense by attorneys Bernie Brown and Edward Rymsza after his chosen attorney Shelley Centini was removed from the case.
Selenski, represented by attorney Jeff Yellen for the appeal, maintains that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately question witnesses and failing to call others to testify.
Brown and Rymsza testified Friday and defended their representation of Selenski.
First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino represented the district attorney's office at the hearing before Luzerne County Judge Fred Pierantoni.
Selenski, who famously escaped from the Luzerne County prison using bed sheets and once beat a set of murder charges in Luzerne County Court, was convicted in January 2015 of double murder for the strangulation deaths of pharmacist Michael Kerkowski and his girlfriend Tammy Fassett. Their bodies, and the remains of at least three others, were unearthed in Selenski's Kingston Twp. yard in June 2003.
Selenski is jailed at State Correctional Institution at Fayette County in western Pennsylvania.
Contact the writer:
570-821-2055, @cvbobkal
