Court approves $500 to help find witnesses for appeal of 1993 Jeannette murder case

A former Pittsburgh man serving life in prison for a deadly shooting during a Jeannette backyard party nearly three decades ago will be permitted to hire a private investigator to find new witnesses he claims can support a long-standing appeal.

The lawyer for Eric Lamont Rudolph, 48, told a Westmoreland County judge Monday that two former prison inmates can discredit key testimony used to convict his client of first-degree murder for the 1993 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Wendell Lovelace.

Rudolph maintained he acted in self-defense when he shot Lovelace in the head. Rudolph’s friend, Tywann Smith, testified at trial that a dispute between the two men escalated before the fatal shot was fired at nearly point-blank range.

Defense attorney Andrew Skala said Smith later claimed his testimony was fabricated to elicit a favorable plea bargain on unrelated charges. Smith was killed during a shooting in Jeannette in 1999, but his recanted testimony can be verified by two former inmates who spoke with Rudolph in prison more than a decade ago, Skala said.

“In order to confirm the two witnesses’ stories, I have to talk to those witnesses,” Skala said, which he claims Rudolph first learned about in 2008 when he filed his appeal without a lawyer.

That appeal has gone unheard for 12 years. District Attorney John Peck said there is no basis for the appeal, and a similar contention was dismissed by county and state appeals courts in the early 2000s. Peck argued Rudolph’s pending appeal was filed too late and should be dismissed.

Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger authorized Rudolph’s defense to spend up to $500 for an investigator to attempt to find the two witnesses.

“If you can’t find these witnesses, it will be difficult to prove your case,” Krieger said.