A former New Kensington man serving a life prison sentence for a 1999 murder maintained his innocence on Friday as part of an ongoing appeal hearing in which he seeks to reopen his case.
Lawyers with a University of San Francisco-based nonprofit, the Racial Justice Clinic, contend Denard Galloway, 61, was a victim of prosecutorial and police misconduct when he was convicted in 2000 and again during a 2005 retrial of first-degree murder for the Feb. 6, 1999, shooting death of 43-year-old Terry Anderson outside a New Kensington bar.
Prosecutors contended Galloway and a still unidentified man killed Anderson in retaliation for being shorted $51 in a drug deal.
In a new appeal filed last year, Galloway and his new lawyers contend they recently discovered evidence that police and Westmoreland County prosecutors conspired to plant evidence against a key witnesses in an unrelated drug case to leverage them to testify against Galloway in his murder trial.
Westmoreland County prosecutors have denied the misconduct allegations. They contend Galloway’s appeal should be dismissed because its claims were previously litigated, and the new appeal was filed years too late.
“This hearing is about what Mr. Galloway knew and when he knew it,” Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger told the lawyers Friday during a protracted debate over evidence.
The merits of Galloway’s claims are not being considered at this stage of the appeal, the judge said.
Galloway was among a handful of defense witnesses who testified during three days of hearings this week. He told the judge he only recently learned details of what the defense claims was a conspiracy among prosecutors and police to frame him for Anderson’s murder.
“I didn’t have anything to do with it. It had to be fabricated,” Galloway testified on Friday. “I know I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Hundreds of pages of documents, including search warrants from police investigations decades old, and transcripts from court proceedings have been reviewed with witnesses as part of the lengthy testimony over the last three days as attorneys for prosecutors and the defense sparred over their relevance and accuracy.
A former defense lawyer testified last month he only recently came to believe New Kensington police and county prosecutors fabricated a drug case against his client a quarter century ago by planting evidence and falsifying court documents, as a means to force his client to testify against Galloway in his murder trial.
Two of the 18 witnesses prosecutors have subpoenaed to refute the defense allegations testified Friday, a private investigator hired by Galloway’s first defense lawyers in 2000 and a Westmoreland County detective who told the judge he had no memory of his involvement in the cases.
Detective Tony Marcocci testified case records confirmed he assisted New Kensington police during a drug arrest of suspected witnesses against Galloway in 1999 but that he did not specifically recall his involvement in the case.
Responding to a question from Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Ranger, Marcocci denied he fabricated evidence in any case he has been involved with in more than 40 years as county detective.
“I would never do that,” Marcocci said.
Defense attorneys have not accused Marcocci of any wrongdoing involving Galloway’s trials or other cases associated with his prosecution.
Marcocci is among a list 18 potential witnesses subpoenaed by the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.
That lists includes the retired lawyer who prosecuted Galloway and a retired New Kensington detective who oversaw the murder investigation and related drug cases.
They may be called as witnesses when the appeal hearing is reconvened later this year for additional days of testimony.