SMETHPORT – It took a McKean County jury about two hours Friday
to find two women guilty of lying during Post Conviction Relief Act
hearings for convicted cop-killer Tim Williams.
Marian Kay Nersinger of Holley, N.Y., and Michelle Nelson of
Scio, N.Y., were found guilty of perjury, a third-degree felony,
after a week-long trial in McKean County Court. The verdict came in
at about 5:35 p.m.
Nersinger and Nelson had both testified during hearings that
they overheard Becky Lucrezi Olson admit that she, and not
Williams, shot Kane Borough Police Officer Steve Jerman. Williams
was convicted of third-degree murder in 1999.
Nersinger started sobbing as the verdict was read; Nelson
lowered her head.
“I am so disappointed with that verdict,” defense attorney Sam
Stretton said. Stretton, who represents Nersinger and Nelson, also
represents Williams. “I usually don’t criticize juries, but this is
so unfair, so unjust, so against reason.”
McKean County District Attorney John Pavlock declined to comment
on the verdict, but spoke of his admiration for the jury, which
included three men and nine women.
“I greatly appreciate the jury’s time and effort,” he said after
the trial. “This was a long and complex trial. It wouldn’t have
been easy for them to examine this evidence.”
Stretton said he was going to appeal the verdict, citing Judge
John Yoder’s charge to the jury as one point of interest.
“I feel so bad,” he said. “These people come forward … have the
courage to stand up even though Nersinger was indicted … it’s a
miscarriage of justice.”
Stretton also pointed out that unless all the witnesses are
charged with perjury now, McKean County has set a precedent for
selective prosecution. He also mentioned possibly turning former DA
Michele Alfieri over to a legal disciplinary board for testifying
that Lucrezi Olson passed a polygraph test, a test which is not
admissible in court.
Yoder told the jury in his instructions to disregard Alfieri’s
mention of a polygraph test.
“It’s a sad day and there is no excuse,” he said of the
verdict.
The jury was out for about an hour and a half when they came
back to see the timeline Lucrezi Olson wrote listing where she was
for a period of time after February 1999. They also wanted to see
the last page of Pavlock’s PowerPoint presentation in his closing
argument, but Yoder did not allow that, saying that was not part of
the evidence.
The jurors were allowed to take the timeline back to
deliberations – 35 minutes later, they were back with a
verdict.
The day started on Friday with Lucrezi Olson taking the stand
again to testify that she had never been at JB’s in Wellsville,
N.Y. – where Holly Duell said she allegedly overheard Lucrezi Olson
say she kept playing the murder over in her head and seeing the gun
in her hand.
“I don’t know her,” Lucrezi Olson said of Duell.
She also said she never spoke of the morning Jerman was
killed.
“I didn’t talk about it. I don’t like talking about it. I don’t
want to be here now talking about this,” she said.
When asked directly by Pavlock if she ever told anyone she
pulled the trigger and shot Jerman, she replied emphatically “No, I
didn’t.”
The jury also heard the previous testimony of Tait Kerr. Kerr,
who was served a subpoena, did not show up for the trial.
Kerr had testified during a PCRA hearing in the Williams case
that she and Lucrezi Olson were roommates and she had heard Lucrezi
Olson talk about shooting out the back window of the car when
Jerman was shot and said the case was handled badly.
Trooper Gary Stuckey of the Kane-based state police returned to
the stand, saying the back window was never shot out of the
car.
In his closing argument, Stretton said the Commonwealth did not
prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Did they deliberately, intentionally know what they said was
false,” Stretton asked. He also said inconsistencies are not a
basis for perjury, and are not that unusual in testimony.
“There’s always dramatically different versions. That doesn’t
translate to perjury,” he said. “Inconsistency, different testimony
is not perjury.”
Rather, according to Stretton, the passage of time and illness
had affected his clients’ memories. There was also no corroborating
evidence, he said.
He also said that the police did not follow up as diligently has
they should have, especially when Nersinger called to tell them
what she allegedly heard.
“This should have rang bells and whistles,” he said. “What did
they do? Nothing.”
Instead, Stretton alleged the district attorney protected
Lucrezi Olson since they had given her immunity.
“It would be a major embarrassment if we gave immunity to the
killer,” Stretton said. “… the evidence is clear, they are not
guilty.”
Pavlock, who made his closing argument with a PowerPoint
presentation, told the jury to use common sense to arrive at a
verdict.
“Look at it,” he said. “The reality in front of you. Look at
what they are telling you … what reality is.”
The DA cited both defendants’ motivation to help Williams.
“Tim Williams needed help. The trial was lost, appeals lost.
Then Nersinger shows up,” Pavlock said. When Nersinger’s story
didn’t pan out, “Nelson shows up to back her friend up.”
Pavlock also said both disliked Lucrezi Olson and did not make
an effort to contact police.
“The phones work both ways,” he said.
The DA also said that both changed their stories defended the
troopers, saying they investigated the situation properly.
“What are they supposed to do,” he said of the troopers. “Knock
on every door in Coudersport?”
“What are their motives,” he said of Nersinger and Nelson.
“You’ve got to factor that into this.”
“The case here is what they allegedly heard outside of Sheetz.
Think quality more than quantity.”
Neither Nersinger nor Nelson took the stand.
A sentencing date has not been set.
