Testimony ends in murder retrial

Godesky doesn’t take the stand

Testimony concluded Friday in the retrial of Scott Godesky, who was sentenced in 1997 to life in prison for the death and dismemberment of a 21-yearold Knoxville man the previous year.

Godesky — who was granted a new trial after his co-defendant, convicted murderer David Lehrman, wrote a letter taking sole responsibility for killing Brian Mirenna — did not take the stand.

Godesky’s attorney, Aaron Sontz, called several witnesses Friday, including two former Pittsburgh homicide detectives, Dale Canofariand Dennis Logan. Both were on the case in 1996. Mr. Logan is now chief of detectives at the Allegheny County district attorney’s office.

Mr. Sontz also had transcripts read into the record of police interviews with William Kuhn, who was originally charged in Mirenna’s death before investigators turned their focus to Godesky and Lehrman.

In the transcripts, Mr. Kuhnre called being around Lehrman and hearing him “joke” about killing Mirenna.

Mirenna, a drug dealer who was friends with Lehrman, was fatally shot Feb. 28, 1996, inside Lehrman’s Carrick apartment. His body was dismembered and parts were buried in shallow graves.

Lehrman testified before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani on Thursday that he was solely responsible for killing Mirenna.

He said he pinned the murder on Godesky because he thought he could avoid prison.

“I stepped forward and I shot him in the head,” Lehrman testified Thursday.

Lehrman wrote a letter to Godesky in 2008 apologizing for pinning the crime on him. That letter prompted a new trial for Godesky, 48, which began Aug. 7 before Judge Mariani.

During much of Friday’s proceedings, which lasted about 4½ hours, Mr. Logan was on the stand.

Mr. Sontz questioned him about time stamps for interviews in the case that he conducted alongside former Pittsburgh police detectives Jill Smallwood and the late Robert McCabe on April 30, 1996.

That day, Lehrman gave police a statement at 4:41 p.m. before Mr. Logan left mid-interview to pick up Mr. Godesky around 4:50 p.m.

But according to a recording made at the time by Mr. Logan and Mr. McCabe, Mr. Logan was in another interrogation room getting a statement from Mr. Kuhn at 4:40 p.m.

“The time has to be wrong,“Mr. Logan said multiple times Friday. ”McCabe must have made a mistake. He’s human.”

Closing arguments are expected to take place Monday morning.