Judge mulls third trial for convicted murderer
COURTHOUSE — Court of Common Pleas Judge Wendy Demchik-Alloy heard arguments on Monday for convicted killer Adam Rosen’s request for a third trial and ended the hearing without making a decision, saying she would take the arguments under advisement.
Rosen, 48, formerly of Montgomery Township, was initially convicted of first degree murder by a jury in May 2002 and again in a bench trial in 2008. Rosen argued through his attorney Paul George that his previous counsel did not represent him well during his second trial, which upheld the first degree murder conviction and life sentence from 2002.
George argued that Rosen’s defense attorney during the 2008 bench trial, Richard Winters, failed to find expert testimony to dispute the types of wounds found on the victim’s body.
Winters stated Monday that his defense strategy during the 2008 bench trial was to argue that the crime should have been considered third-degree murder instead of first-degree murder because he believed there was no intent to kill. He testified on Monday that during the course of an argument, Rosen snapped and eventually came to and realize that he had stabbed his wife.
George asked Winters why he never brought up the idea of overkill — when someone keeps attacking despite the victim already being dead — during the bench trial and why he did not have an outside expert come in to testify whether the wounds were consistent with the idea of overkill. These kinds of wounds are often associated with attacks made in the heat of passion.
Court documents indicate that one
of the medical examiners, Dr. Ian Hood, stated the wounds on the victim did not indicate overkill during testimony from the second trial.
“At no time did trial counsel present a medical expert to contest Dr. Hood’s opinion that Ms. Rosen’s wounds were not characteristic of wounds inflicted by someone overcome by the heat of passion,” the petition for post-conviction relief reads.
Winters said he did not believe the types of wounds found on the victim were relevant to whether it was a first- or third-degree murder.
“The thing that was going to hurt Adam was the girlfriend,” Winters said. Rosen’s extramarital girlfriend was called to testify in the 2002 jury trial but did not testify about a phone call she received in which Rosen asked her if she would take him back if his wife wasn’t around, until the 2008 trial.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Falin maintains Winters did not do anything wrong in the second trial and Judge Paul Tressler’s 2008 conviction should be upheld.
Rosen was given a life sentence without the chance for parole in both trials.
The families of the victim and Rosen were present in the courtroom on Monday, though both families declined to comment on the proceedings.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on June 30, 2001 at 9:30 a.m., police responded to the 100 block of Filly Drive in Montgomery Township for a report of an unresponsive subject. When police arrived, Rosen told them his wife was unresponsive on the second floor. Police found Hollie, 31 at the time of her death, with a large laceration on the side of her neck.
Adam Rosen told police he was in his bedroom, which according to the affidavit of probable cause was separate from Hollie’s, when he heard a commotion. He told police he saw a male intruder stab his wife as she lay in the bedroom. He said he struggled with the man down the stairs when he saw a second intruder, who came to help the first intruder. After a brief fight, he told police the two men fled through the garage.
Investigators noted there were no signs of a break in or a robbery at the home.
On June 30, 2001, an autopsy revealed the victim had died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the body and the death was ruled a homicide. The Montgomery County Detectives Bureau along with the Montgomery Township police conducted a joint investigation.
Police presented in- consistencies to Adam where he eventually told police he and his wife were arguing about ending their marriage. He said while arguing in the kitchen Hollie took a knife and stabbed him in the stomach before going upstairs to her bedroom where another argument began. Adam said he took the knife from her and stabbed her in the chest and then his wife took the knife and stabbed herself in the neck.
Investigators determined that the wound found on the victim’s body could not be selfinflicted based on how severe it is. Police also found defensive wounds on both hands.
According to a previous report in The Times Herald, Rosen’s 2002 conviction and sentence was overturned by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 2005 because his trial lawyer failed to call character witnesses on Rosen’s behalf.