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WILKES-BARRE — A Luzerne County judge has barred prosecutors from using evidence recovered from the apartment and vehicle of Anthony Shaw at his upcoming homicide trial for the slaying of his girlfriend in Wilkes-Barre Township.
The ruling by Judge Michael T. Vough earlier this week will likely delay Shaw’s trial set to begin Aug. 26 as District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said Thursday her office may file an appeal.
Shaw, 43, of East Orange, N.J., is accused of stabbing to death Cindy Lou Ashton, 39, inside her Nicholson Street, Wilkes-Barre Township, residence on May 1, 2018. Her body was found by a township police officer May 2, 2018, while conducting a welfare check when she failed to show up at her employment.
Vough issued his ruling Monday during a brief court proceeding, but the actual court document couldn’t be obtained until Thursday morning. Due to a court-imposed gag order, prosecutors and Shaw’s defense attorneys, David W. Lampman II and Jessica Miraglia, are prohibited from publicly discussing the case.
The ruling follows a motion’s hearing held before Vough on June 28 and subsequent court filings by Shaw’s lawyers and prosecutors arguing about evidence seized from Shaw’s East Orange apartment, his vehicle and statements he made to investigators while recovering from self-inflicted stab wounds and slashes to his body in an apparent suicide attempt.
During the June 28 hearing, assistant district attorneys Brian Coleman, Jill Sosnoski and Daniel Marsh played footage from a body camera worn by East Orange, N.J., police Officer Sherice Wilson entering Shaw’s apartment on May 3, 2018.
Wilson testified she went to Shaw’s apartment to conduct a welfare check. After getting no response at his door, Wilson sought out the apartment building’s superintendent who opened Shaw’s door.
Wilson entered the apartment and discovered blood spatter on the floors and walls, and a blood covered Shaw lying face down in a laundry basket in a bedroom. Wilson also discovered two bloody knives on a dresser and a several-page handwritten letter in a notebook on a kitchen counter.
Lampman and Miraglia argued East Orange police failed to follow their own procedures and failed to exhaust all available attempts to locate a person before entering Shaw’s apartment without a search warrant.
Prosecutors consider the handwritten letter in the notebook an apology connected to Ashton’s homicide.
Vough also barred prosecutors from using evidence recovered from Shaw’s 2003 Mercury Sable, which includes a receipt from Kmart in the Blackman Street Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township.
Prosecutors said the receipt accompanied by the store’s surveillance camera footage shows Shaw purchased a Gerber knife at Kmart before Ashton was killed.
“The entry into (Shaw’s) apartment on May 3, 2018, by Officer Wilson and subsequent seizure of the three knives, notebook containing a handwritten note, two blood swabs, (Shaw’s) New Jersey driver’s license and a gold cell phone were in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and New Jersey state law,” Vough ruled, adding a footnote that Wilson’s entry into Shaw’s apartment most likely saved his life.
Vough also prohibited prosecutors from using Shaw’s statements to investigators when he was questioned while recovering from his self-inflicted injuries at Rutgers University Hospital. The judge ruled since Shaw was questioned about evidence recovered without a search warrant, it is considered the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine.
“Because (Shaw) was confronted with unlawfully obtained evidence, all statements provided by (Shaw) to the Office of the Luzerne County District Attorney and/or Wilkes-Barre Township Police while a patient at the Rutgers University Hospital during the interview which took place on May 5, 2018, must be suppressed and excluded at trial,” Vough ruled.
At the time East Orange police entered Shaw’s apartment on May 3, 2018, they were not aware Shaw was a suspect in Ashton’s slaying. It was a day after, May 4, 2018, when Luzerne County Chief Detective Michael Dessoye contacted East Orange police inquiring about Shaw.
