Fayette judge’s decision in boyfriend slaying case to be appealed
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision barring them from presenting some evidence of prior assaults in the trial of a woman charged in the stabbing death of her boyfriend.
A Fayette County judge ruled that prosecutors couldn’t present evidence of alleged “prior bad acts” by 46-year-old Lori Tressler. She’s charged in the August 2015 stabbing of 29-year-old Robert Engle in Georges Township after the two had been drinking and fighting.
Her attorney says evidence of prior attempted stabbings or occasions when Tressler got a knife in earlier arguments shouldn’t be presented. The judge also disallowed evidence of a 2009 harassment charge. Tressler was never convicted in any of those events. Prosecutors said barring such evidence would “substantially handicap the prosecution of this case.”