Testimony to begin in attempted homicide trial
Washington County jurors expect to begin hearing testimony today in the trial of Keith Rosario, who is charged in an attempted homicide and kidnapping in September 2017.
Rosario, 28, of Washington, is accused of shooting Marcus Stancik, 32, who had no permanent address at the time but was staying at a home in Washington’s West End from which he said he sold cocaine for Rosario’s co-defendant, according to Stancik’s testimony at a preliminary hearing.
Rosario also sometimes stayed at the home of Richard Dewey Lacks, 24, and at one point, a gun was missing. Stancik testified he did not take the weapon but left on a cocaine “run” with a few hundred dollars’ worth of the drug and did not return.
Stancik told police he was kidnapped Sept. 5, 2017, while walking near Broad and Baird streets, and driven to Cove Road in South Franklin Township.
As he knelt beside a reservoir, he said he was shot below the base of his skull by a man he first identified by the nickname “Sin” and then, when questioned by police, as Rosario. Stancik said the triggerman’s gun then jammed, and Stancik fled into the water to escape.
A woman called state police, reporting that she had heard a gunshot and a male voice saying he had been shot.
Police arrived to find Stancik naked in the water about 30 feet from the bank. He was treated lakeside, then flown by helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Prosecuting the case are Deputy District Attorney Jason Walsh and Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann. Representing Rosario is Kimberly Furmanek, court-appointed conflicts counsel.
Judge Valarie Costanzo is presiding at the trial in Courtroom No. 1.
The case against Lacks is still pending.