Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco last week scheduled another status conference for the pending retrial of Ronald Weiss, the 76-year-old former Tunnelton man convicted in 1997 of the 1978 murder of 16-year-old Barbara Bruzda.
Weiss was found guilty after a state law was enacted that allowed spouses to testify against one another. His wife’s testimony was enough to convince a jury of his guilt almost twenty years after the murder, but in 2018 a federal judge threw out the verdict based on misconduct by the prosecutor from the state Attorney General’s office and a state trooper. The judge ordered Weiss released but he was immediately re-arrested and he’s been fighting retrial ever since, with the State Supreme Court agreeing with Judge Bianco’s ruling that the prosecution’s misconduct and the murder of Bruzda were two separate issues.
The most recent attempt to get the trial underway was in November but it was continued at the defense’s request. Judge Bianco held a status conference on December 30th. The next status conference is scheduled for February 11th.
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