Greensburg man claims co-defendant's plea deal hid from defense

The lawyer for a Greensburg man sentenced this week to serve life in prison for the 2017 murder of a Vandergrift woman claims prosecutors hid evidence of a plea deal offered to a co-defendant and key witness in the case.

Defense attorney Tim Andrews contends Westmoreland County prosecutors suppressed evidence of a deal with Devin Akamichi to plead guilty to a lesser charge and receive a sentence of at least six years in prison in return for his testimony in the murder trial of Walter Cable last year.

Cable, 29, was convicted of first-degree murder last year in a weeklong trial in the beating death and robbery of 34-year-old Ronny Cable, whose charred remains were found in a heavily wooded area near Keystone State Park. Walter Cable and his victim are not related.

Walter Cable was identified as a suspect by Akamichi, 29, of Export, who told police how the woman was killed and where her remains could be found.

Akamichi testified he watched Walter Cable kill the woman and claimed he was forced to help burn the her body in a campfire the men tended to for about 10 hours. During the trial, Akamichi insisted he had no plea deal with prosecutors in return for his testimony.

Andrews, in the appeal, claims that was not true.

“The defendant’s due process rights were violated by suppressing evidence material to the defendant’s guilt irrespective of the good faith of the prosecution,” Andrews wrote.

Akamichi, like Cable, was charged with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse and other offenses. His case is pending, and no hearing date for a guilty plea or a trial has been set.

Assistant District Attorney Pete Caravello, who is listed as the prosecuting lawyer for Cable and Akamichi, could not be reached for comment.

Akamichi’s defense lawyer, Brian Aston, confirmed prosecutors last year — after Cable’s trial — offered Akamichi a deal to plead guilty to a lesser charge that carried a 6- to 12-year prison sentence.

Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger rejected that deal, Aston said.

“At the time (of the Cable trial) when he (Akamichi) testified, there was no understanding and only hope he would get some type of consideration,” Aston said.

In the appeal, Walter Cable also claims his conviction was not supported by the evidence presented against him at trial.