A McKean County judge has ruled that a woman accused of lying
during a hearing for convicted cop-killer Timothy Williams will
face a jury. What remains to be decided, however, is whether her
case will be heard with another person who has been charged with
perjury and if their cases will be heard by a jury from McKean
County.

McKean County Judge John Yoder denied a motion to dismiss the
criminal information against Marian Kay Nersinger, who is charged
with one count of perjury for allegedly lying during a Post
Conviction Relief Act hearing for Williams. Williams was convicted
of third-degree murder in 1999 for the shooting death of Kane
Borough Police Officer Steven Jerman.

Nersinger’s attorney, Sam Stretton, claimed in the motion that
since Judge Charles Alexander, who presided over the Williams trial
and ultimately denied Williams a new trial, wrote in a memorandum
that he believed that Becky Lucrezi-Olson admitted she actually
shot Jerman, that his client should not be charged with
perjury.

Lucrezi was in Williams’s car, along with Matthew Seeley, the
morning Jerman was shot. Several witnesses have since come forward,
claiming to have heard Lucrezi admit that she was the shooter. To
date, Nersinger and another witness, Michelle Nelson, have been
charged with perjury. Nersinger, Nelson and Williams are all
represented by Stretton, an attorney from West Chester.

In Yoder’s memorandum, “the issue in this perjury case is not
whether Becky Lucrezi made such admissions, but rather whether such
admission was made to (Nersinger).”

However, as Yoder points out “the instant case of Commonwealth
v. Nersinger is separate and distinct from the case of Commonwealth
v. Williams and this Court is not bound by the determination of
(Alexander) …”

In Williams’s case, the issue was where Lucrezi made any
admission that she shot Jerman. In Nersinger’s case, the issue is
whether Nersinger lied under oath when she claimed to have heard
Lucrezi admit to shooting Jerman, Yoder said.

On the same day Yoder filed his memorandum and order in the
Nersinger case, Stretton filed another motion in Nelson’s case
where he alleges the perjury charge against Nelson should be
dismissed since the issue of whether Lucrezi made such admissions
were decided by Alexander.

A hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in McKean
County Court.

Many other issues will be argued at that same time regarding
both the Nersinger and Nelson cases. This includes a claim by
Nelson that she was not properly warned of her rights and her
statements were not voluntary.

“She contends the statements were taken in denial of her right
to counsel …,” Stretton said.

In Nelson’s case, according to Stretton, there is no
corroborating evidence since there is only one witness, Trooper
Gary Stuckey.

In fact, during Nelson’s preliminary hearing, Stretton doesn’t
recall Lucrezi denying that she did not state that she was the
shooter.

McKean County District Attorney John Pavlock has also filed a
motion, asking the court not to allow the testimony of anyone who
claimed to have heard Lucrezi admit to shooting Jerman “at anytime
other than when (Nersinger) was present.”

Nersinger’s trial is scheduled to being May 1.

“Since the sole focus of the current case is what statements, if
any, were made by Lucrezi in the presence of Nersinger, the jury
would be greatly confused if evidence was presented regarding
numerous alleged other statements at different times involving
different witnesses,” Pavlock wrote.

Stretton, however, said any other statements that were made
would be relevant.

“The Commonwealth cannot present (Lucrezi), who will deny ever
saying she shot the police officer, when in fact there were
numerous witnesses who heard to the contrary,” Stretton wrote. “The
Commonwealth cannot, in isolation, then argue that these two
witnesses lied when in fact the Commonwealth was aware and Judge
Alexander actually found that Ms. Lucrezi made these statements to
numerous people.

Stretton, who has been representing all three pro bono, has
filed motions to consolidate the Nersinger and Nelson cases, but,
in the end, “that’s up to the judge,” Stretton said.

There’s also a chance that the cases could be heard outside of
McKean County or for a jury from outside of the county to come
here.

Stretton explained that this will be done once the voir dire, or
questions asked to the jury pool, to see if a fair trial can be
achieved.

“It’s a smaller county,” Stretton said. “People really know
what’s going on.”

In Williams’s case, the case was heard by a jury from Mifflin
County without assembling a pool from McKean County due to the
pre-trial publicity.

Stretton added that Williams’s case is still on appeal at the
state Superior Court level. The attorneys are awaiting a briefing
schedule.

In the Williams case alone, the appeal process could continue
for three to four years, Stretton said, adding he will go to the
federal court level if necessary.

To date, Williams contends he has no recollection of what
happened the morning Jerman was killed and he was critically
injured when Jerman shot back.