Judge rules intent to harm supports murder count in Derry Township homicide

Westmoreland County prosecutors will be allowed to seek a first-degree murder conviction against a Unity man who, police say, shot into a Derry Township home and killed a woman as she slept.

Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger, in a 20-page opinion issued Friday, rejected a defense request that claimed there was insufficient evidence to support a first-degree murder charge filed in connection with the July 20, 2020, killing of 52-year-old Tracy Squib.

Police said Nathan Quidetto, 23, fired four shots into Squib’s Pandora Road home about 4 a.m. in apparent retaliation over a drug deal gone wrong. He told investigators he fired several rounds in the direction of the house and then fled, according to court papers.

Squib, who was asleep with her husband as their children were in another room, was fatally wounded.

Police said Quidetto had the wrong house, and no one living there was his target.

Defense attorney Emily Smarto argued there was no evidence Quidetto intended to kill Squib and argued the first-degree murder count should be dismissed.

The judge disagreed.

“Under a transferred intent theory, a defendant may be found guilty of murder where the commonwealth proves that the only difference between the intended result and the actual result is the person harmed,” Krieger wrote.

Authorities said Squib woke, initially thought she had been bitten and was found bleeding from her upper chest when family members called for help. She died at a hospital. Her husband and children were not injured.

Krieger also rejected a defense attempt to bar Quidetto’s confession from evidence. The defense argued Quidetto asked for a lawyer to be present during his two interrogations, one after he requested to speak with police. Before that interview, Quidetto acknowledged he would speak with investigators without legal representation because it would take his lawyer too long to arrive.