SMETHPORT – The past conduct of a private investigator who
admitted to lying under oath to the U.S. Congress should be allowed
in a trial on someone charged with perjury, according to McKean
County District Attorney John Pavlock.
Pavlock filed a motion and argued Wednesday in McKean County
Court that Anthony Marceca, the main defense investigator for the
cases against Timothy Williams, appealing a conviction of murdering
a police officer, and Marian Kay Nersinger, one woman who is
accused of lying during one of Williams’s Post Conviction Relief
Act hearings, should face questions on cross-examination regarding
his past behavior.
Marceca was a White House aide during the Clinton administration
and was entangled in the controversy known as “Filegate,” a scandal
that involved alleged improper acquisition and use by Clinton
staffers of FBI background files.
The incident was the focus of investigations by Office of
Independent Counsel prosecutor Kenneth Starr and the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
In the end, the Independent Counsel concluded that neither
Marceca, nor any White House official nor then-First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton did any criminal misconduct. However, the findings
also report that even though Marceca did lie under oath, he was
never charged.
“The Independent Counsel had declined to prosecute Mr. Marceca
for perjury or false statements because, on the central issue of
whether he or anyone else had targeted Republicans and requested
that the FBI produce their confidential background reports, Mr.
Marceca was truthful: Neither he nor anyone else had done so,” the
final report said.
The fact that Marceca, now 64, allegedly lied is grounds for
questioning in Nersinger’s case. Nersinger claims to have heard
Becky Lucrezi Olson admit to killing Kane Borough Police Officer
Steve Jerman instead of Williams, who was convicted of third-degree
murder in 1999 for Jerman’s death.
“The Commonwealth argues that cross-examination of Mr. Marceca
regarding his prior untruthfulness should be permitted by the
Court,” Pavlock wrote. “Marceca admitted to Independent Counsel
that his testimony had been inaccurate, that he had known it was
inaccurate at the time he made it, and that he testified falsely
while under oath … Because of this, cross-examination of his prior
misconduct should be allowed.
“In question here is not an arrest or an indictment, but
statements that were made by Mr. Marceca himself,” Pavlock said.
“Because Mr. Marceca has admitted to committing perjury, evidence
of this misconduct does establish guilt.”
Sam Stretton, the West Chester attorney who represents Williams,
Nersinger and Michelle Nelson, another witness charged with perjury
in the Williams case, countered in court Wednesday that Marceca is
well respected and was likely to serve in a “high position” in a
Hillary Clinton presidential administration.
“There was no conviction,” Stretton said, adding it was not
necessary to bring up Marceca’s past.
Since Pavlock’s motion on Marceca was filed Wednesday, Stretton,
who was in trial in Smethport on another case, had not had time to
file a response.
He did note that he had “very little regard for” Starr’s
report.
Any alleged wrong-doing came to light when U.S. Rep. William
Clinger Jr., R-Pa., originally from Warren, announced that the
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the U.S. House of
Representatives discovered White House officials had requested the
confidential Federal Bureau of Investigation background report of
Billy Ray Dale, according to the final report.
Dale was the former director of the White House Travel and
Telegraph Office; Clinger was the chairman of the committee.
The Independent Counsel was then authorized to investigate
whether Marceca committed a crime when requests were made by the
White House to the FBI for background investigation reports or
materials, the report said.
McKean County Judge John Yoder did not rule on Pavlock’s motion
as of Wednesday afternoon.
