GUILTY PA - Melissa Scholl for attempted murder of 5 & 7yo kids, Wilkes-Barre, 2015

pappa rob said:

That's pretty sad if you want to take your life that's your problem. Trying to take your children's lives is just sick.

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Altruistic filicide is murder committed out of love to relieve the real or imagined suffering of the child. Altruistic filicide may be associated with suicide. For example, a mother who is suicidal may not be willing to leave her child motherless in a “cruel world.” Distinct from this, acutely psychotic filicide occurs when a parent in the throes of acute psychosis (e.g., experiencing command hallucinations) kills his or her child with no comprehensible motive.

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Despite her attorney's confidence that Melissa Ann Scholl showed no intent to kill her children the night police said she tried to take her own life and theirs in the process, she will face two charges of attempted homicide in county court.

Police said Scholl parked her car at the Williams Bus Line lot on Blackman Street on the night of Dec. 9, 2015 and tried to gas herself and her children to death with carbon monoxide...

Sgt. Thomas J. Elick of the Wilkes-Barre Township Police Department recounted his experience responding to a 911 call for a woman with two kids attempting to kill herself in a car on Dec. 9... At the scene, Elick said Scholl repeated, "I just can't do this anymore," and, "It's tough raising kids these days," and not much else before her arrest.

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The saga continued Wednesday over whether attempted homicide charges should be dismissed against a city mother accused of trying to kill herself and her two young children, with prosecutors failing to dispute the latest claim of lost or mishandled evidence.

Melissa Ann Scholl, 33, of Blackman Street, faces the charges after prosecutors say she tried to filter exhaust fumes into her vehicle as she and her children sat parked in the Williams Bus Line parking lot in Wilkes-Barre Township on Dec. 9, 2015. She allegedly told the children to “die for something special.”

Scholl’s attorney, Larry Kansky, has filed two motions in the last month seeking to have the charges thrown out on claims Scholl was denied the right to a fair trial because prosecutors lost, destroyed or mishandled key evidence in the case, including the garden hoses recovered from the scene, Scholl’s vehicle, bedding, and a pink suitcase.

In a response filed Wednesday, prosecutors said Kansky failed to show the relevance of the suitcase or how it would prove Scholl wasn’t guilty of attempted homicide, but they don’t dispute Kansky’s claim it was never logged into evidence. Photographs of the suitcase, however, have been turned over well in advance of trial, they say.

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Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas denied two outstanding motions, one that sought to hold a county prosecutor in contempt and another that argued the case should be thrown out all together, during a hearing in Luzerne County Court.

The motions addressed, Lupas set Melissa Ann Scholl’s trial for June 12.

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In a filing Thursday, prosecutors seek an in-chambers hearing to assess the admissibility of the statement by the child, who told investigators his mother talked about how hard it was raising children alone as she packed a hose in the car and drove him and his sister to a lot along Blackman Street.

Once parked, Scholl put a hose into the car’s window before kissing and hugging the children “while saying it was the final time she would,” according to the child’s account as described in the filing by prosecutors. A bus driver then discovered the vehicle, removed the hose and opened the door, the boy told police.

Prosecutors are seeking to introduce the testimony to bolster their case, which also includes text messages from Scholl to her mother in which she allegedly wrote that she was “going to kill (her)self.”

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Jury selection in the attempted murder case against Melissa Ann Scholl was delayed Monday so a county judge could view video recordings of statements her young son gave to investigators.

After reviewing the videos Monday afternoon, Lupas ruled he will allow jurors to see the recordings.

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Was it a desperate cry for help or a carefully crafted plan so someone would find a “big, dramatic, gruesome” scene the next morning?

The jury in charge of deciding the fate of Melissa Ann Scholl was hopelessly deadlocked after about seven hours of deliberations Friday.

At 7:30 p.m., county Judge David Lupas declared a mistrial.

After a mistrial was declared in the case of Melissa Ann Scholl, she refused to talk to reporters as she was led back to Luzerne County Correctional Facility. She has a trial status conference on July 7, where bail and more charges will be discussed.

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The jury foreman in Melissa Scholl’s attempted murder trial last week is facing criticism from both the prosecution and defense after it was revealed he posted about his service on Facebook throughout the several-day proceeding.

Luzerne County First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said Nemetz played a crucial role in the deadlock. He said prosecutors polled multiple jurors after the mistrial was declared to learn about the deliberations. After the initial round of deliberations, eleven jurors voted to convict Scholl. Nemetz was the lone holdout, Sanguedolce said.

“He’s posting about how he’s on jury duty, then he’s going opposite of the crowd,” Sanguedolce said.

Nemetz eventually convinced two others to switch their votes to not guilty, he said.

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Following trial last month, a jury hung on her guilt 9-3 in favor of convicting the Wilkes-Barre Twp. mother.

Prosecutors opted to retry Scholl, and Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas on Friday set a new trial date of Sept. 11. The judge ordered copies of the trial transcript be provided to the parties in preparation for trial.

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Jury selection began around 1:30 p.m. Monday, with Judge David W. Lupas adjourning around 4:45 p.m. without seating any jurors.

As was previously reported, the jury selections process is likely to come with additional scrutiny, as a juror in June’s trial appeared to have posted about the proceedings on social media.

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The attempted-murder retrial against Melissa Ann Scholl got off to a fiery start Tuesday afternoon when her defense attorney accused a detective of perjury and demanded the charges be dismissed.

Instead, attorney Larry Kansky found himself chastised for his tempestuous courtroom conduct.

“It’s immediately reconsidered. It’s immediately denied. I don’t understand your motion,” Lupas said, prompting Kansky to slam some papers to a desk. “Please stop slamming documents on the table. This is a court of law.”

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Assistant District Attorney Angela Sperrazza opened for the state, arguing that Scholl clearly planned a murder-suicide when she drove the children to a secluded, dark parking lot, rigged the car to asphyxiate the occupants, and then hugged her children for what she told them would be the last time.

“Melissa Scholl made a plan, and she calculated a strategy to end the life of not only herself, but her two minor children,” Sperrazza told the jury.

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Prosecutor Angela Sperrazza asked if Scholl said anything to Wozniak as he stood outside the car that was not running.

“Can’t do it anymore. Don’t want to do it anymore,” Wozniak said Scholl told him.

But defense attorney Larry Kansky pointed out the officer gave a different statement during Scholl’s first trial in June that ended in a mistrial.

When Kansky asked Wozniak if the transcript was wrong, the officer replied, “Yes.” Wozniak maintained his latest testimony was the correct version.

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Jurors on Wednesday heard from the driver, Robert S. of Williams Bus Lines on Blackman Street, who testified that he returned earlier than expected that evening because a student team didn’t show for a pickup.

“I noticed the garden hose was in the driver’s side front window,” Robert said, adding that he then pulled out the hose and opened a door to ventilate the car. “I was afraid because I saw the garden hose running in the window.”

The driver, who said he also saw a bottle of wine on the front passenger seat and Scholl’s two children strapped into the back, said he asked her why she was trying to commit suicide.

“She just said she couldn’t do it on her own any more,” said Robert, who acknowledged during cross-examination that while the car keys had been in the ignition, the vehicle had not been running when he arrived on the scene.

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After just under three hours of deliberations, a jury on Friday convicted Melissa Ann Scholl on attempted-murder charges.

As the foreman read the verdict, Scholl looked forward impassively.

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Convicted of trying to kill her children in a murder-suicide attempt, Melissa Ann Scholl on Monday stood before a judge and asked for leniency.

She did not receive it.

Despite hearing lengthy testimony about Scholl’s love for her children and how her actions on Dec. 9, 2015, amounted to a cry for help to escape an abusive relationship, Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas sentenced Scholl to serve 10 to 30 years in state prison, saying her conduct that night “far outweighs” any mitigating factors.

“It is a criminal offense for which she must be held accountable,” Lupas said.

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"It shows the public that this isn't a free crime. There were two children involved. This sentence makes that very clear. And she's now going to have to do the time for attempting to harm both children," said Luzerne County First Assistant District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce

"The jury didn't believe the excuses, the prosecution didn't believe the excuses, and now the judge made it clear: he didn't believe the excuses," said Sanguedolce.

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