HOLLIDAYSBURG - Joseph B. Olecki, who was arrested a year ago for attempted homicide in Blair and Lackawanna counties, will be tried in Blair County first, according to Assistant District Attorney Deanne Paul.
The 34-year-old automobile mechanic was charged March 16, 2009, with shooting 21 shots into the Drexel Lane house of an estranged girlfriend two days earlier.
As a manhunt was under way locally, Olecki allegedly traveled to his hometown of Scranton on March 15 and shot two residents who lived next to his mother's home. He is charged in Lackawanna County with two counts of attempted homicide and related offenses.
When police took Olecki into custody on Mill Run Road at 31st Street, he was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and six homemade pipe bombs. Olecki was charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction and theft and will be tried separately on those charges.
Olecki was to be tried in Lackawanna County first, but the prosecution has been put on hold, state documents state, after Olecki's attorney in Scranton, Paul Joseph Walker, requested a mental health evaluation of his client.
Another complication arose when Detective Leonard Ash, the veteran police officer who filed charges against Olecki, was arrested in December for allegedly stealing $8,000 in suspected drug money from the Scranton Police Department's evidence room.
Lackawanna Deputy Assistant District Attorney Eugene M. Tabrico said Tuesday that Ash's arrest will not impact the prosecution of Olecki.
But, he said, "It makes life difficult."
What does impact the case, however, is that Walker also represents Ash, which is a potential conflict of interest, Tabrico said, and must be resolved.
Walker was not available for comment on Tuesday.
Paul said this week that Olecki's case could come up for trial as early as April.
The scheduler in the Blair County Court Administrator's Office, Lee Welsh, said that other cases have been scheduled for jury trial ahead of Olecki, but if those cases fold, the Olecki case could be placed on the trial grid.
She said other than that, no trial date has been set.
Olecki is represented in Blair County by attorney Thomas M. Dickey, who also was not available for comment Tuesday.
