Ziccarelli hopes to challenge Peck for Westmoreland County DA
Peck seeking 7th term as District Attorney Share Updated: 10:00 AM EST Feb 13, 2021
Peck seeking 7th term as District Attorney Share Updated: 10:00 AM EST Feb 13, 2021
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Show Transcript ZICARELLI, WHO HAS BEEN CRITICAL OF PECK. WESTMORELAND BUREAU REPORTER JIM MADALINSKY WITH MORE ON THE RACE JIM: FOUR YEARS AGO WESTMORELAND , COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY JOHN PECK WAS ELECTED TO HIS SIXTH TERM. HE RAN UNOPPOSED. THAT WON’T BE THE CASE THIS YEAR AS A NEW CHALLENGER HAS EMERGED CALLING FOR MAJOR CHANGES TO THE OFFICE. JOHN PECK HAS SPENT NEARLY 40 YEARS WORKING INSIDE THE WESTMORELAND COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. HE WAS APPOINTED DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN 1994 AND HAS HELD THE POSITION EVER SINCE. IT’S EASY TO SAY I’M TOUGH ON CRIME IT’S EASY TO SAY I’M , AGAINST CRIME, BUT IT’S ANOTHER THING TO TURN THOSE WORDS INTO ACTION AND APPEAR ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE I
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A death row inmate convicted in the 2010 torture and murder of a mentally disabled woman in Greensburg wants a new lawyer after waiting more than three years for his court-appointed counsel to file an appeal.
Ricky Smyrnes, 34, formerly of North Huntingdon, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection in connection with the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty in an apartment he shared with five others more than a decade ago.
Pittsburgh lawyer Thomas Farrell was appointed in 2017 to handle the second appeal, which is expected to challenge the quality of Smyrnes’ legal representation during his 2013 trial. Smyrnes, in a letter sent from death row at SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County, claims he has been unable to communicate with Farrell and asked Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears to appoint him