Attorney removed from Waynesburg double homicide case
news@greenecountymessenger.com
A court-appointed attorney representing one of the two suspects in a double homicide in Waynesburg has been removed from the case after she was charged with felony wiretapping last month.
Kimberly Furmanek will no longer represent Shawna Marie Smith, who is charged with two counts of homicide and is facing the death penalty if convicted, after Greene County President Judge Louis Dayich issued an order earlier this month removing her as counsel.
“Ms. Smith’s desire to continue with current court-appointed counsel seems to hinge on factors outside the control of the Court and are based largely on private conversations that Ms. Smith and Ms. Furmanek have had regarding the facts of Ms. Furmanek’s case,” Dayich wrote in his order. “The Court finds that there are substantial reasons and good cause to remove Ms. Furmanek from her court appointment.”
Furmanek was arrested June 16 after being accused of allowing a Washington County jail inmate to listen into a private phone call she had with his attorney, James Jeffries, who was unaware his client was on the other line. Furmanek, who is originally from Richhill Township and now lives in Youngwood, is facing felony charges of intercepting communications and conspiracy, and is free on $25,000 bond while awaiting her preliminary hearing, now scheduled for July 27 in Washington.
She was hired last month to work in the Westmoreland County public defender’s office, but she left the position after the charges were filed and that county’s commissioners formally approved her resignation last week. Her law license remains active and there currently are no pending proceedings against her by the state Disciplinary Board.
Dayich had been considering removing Furmanek following a July 12 hearing for Smith in which the situation was discussed, along with how they should proceed. Furmanek indicated at the hearing she wanted to stay on the case, while Smith offered support for keeping her lawyer. Dayich wrote in his order this week that he is now searching for a new lawyer to represent Smith who is certified in trying a death penalty case.
Smith and her co-defendant, Cortland James Rogers, were arrested Feb. 14 and charged in the shooting deaths of Kevin Lamar Williford and Judy Butler Hunter in their Waynesburg apartment. Rogers is being represented by attorney Joseph Zupancic, who requested that Jeffries serve as co-counsel in the case, further complicating the situation.
While the cases are currently separate, there’s a possibility they could be merged, which could have created issues between the two legal teams because Furmanek is not permitted to be in contact with Jeffries as part of her bail conditions.
The next scheduled hearing for Rogers is set for Sept. 14, while no additional proceedings are on the docket for Smith until she is appointed a new attorney. Both defendants are being held without bond at the Greene County jail.