A Westmoreland County judge will decide if a Derry Township woman’s 2020 death at the hands of a man who fired four shots into the wrong home was murder.

Court documents filed Wednesday by the lawyer for Nathan Quidetto argued that Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger should dismiss murder charges and other offenses filed in connection with the July 20, 2020, shooting death of 52-year-old Tracy Marie Squib.

Quidetto, 23, of Unity was charged with criminal homicide and eight other offenses. Police said Quidetto confessed to firing the shots from the street outside Squib’s Pandora Road home as she, her husband and their two children slept inside shortly after 4 a.m.

Defense attorney Emily Smarto argued that Quidetto’s confession should be barred from evidence because it was improperly obtained by police. Without Quidetto’s admission, Smarto said prosecutors cannot prove the murder allegations.

“The record is silent as to manner of death. Therefore, all that remains of record is a death caused by a gunshot wound. Manner of death is a mystery and could be accident, suicide or homicide,” Smarto argued.

According to court records, police contend Quidetto acted under instructions from a suspected drug boss who ordered an attack against another man in an effort to “teach him a lesson, not kill him” as revenge for a botched drug deal.

Quidetto told police he believed he spotted his target’s vehicle on Pandora Road and fired as many as four shots into the Squib residence. Squib was in bed at the time, awoke and initially thought she had been bitten and was found bleeding from her upper chest when family members called for help, police said. She died at a hospital. Her husband and children were not injured.

Smarto also argued there is no record Quidetto had any intent to kill and that prosecutors should not be permitted to seek a conviction of first-degree murder.

The defense effort to have Quidetto’s case dismissed prior to trial has been ongoing for nearly a year. Quidetto’s murder trial is tentatively scheduled to begin April 18.

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