Westmoreland DA opposes county-paid expert for Penn Township murder appeal

Westmoreland taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for an expert to testify on behalf of Greensburg woman appealing her 2006 murder conviction, according to the county’s top prosecutor.

In court documents filed Wednesday, District Attorney John Peck said expert testimony is irrelevant in the pending appeal of Jennifer Vinsek, who was convicted of second-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to life in prison without parole for her role in the shooting death of William Teck, her former boyfriend, along railroad tracks in Penn Township.

Prosecutors said Vinsek, 38, falsely told her new boyfriend that she had been raped by Teck. That set in motion a robbery plot to lure Teck from a local diner. The plan turned fatal when Vinsek’s boyfriend, Jason Maple, followed Teck to the railroad tracks and gunned him down, according to prosecutors.

Vinsek, whose previous appeal was denied in 2010, now claims she was coerced and under duress at the time of the murder and that her trial lawyer did not properly pursue that defense. According to a revised appeal, Vinsek now wants an expert witness to testify she has a history of being abused by men, a situation that left her intimidated and unable to participate in the plot to rob and kill Teck and a friend.

Peck said Vinsek’s defense at trial was she did not participate in the robbery and killing of Teck.

“Since her trial strategy was a claim of innocence, her history of abuse was not relevant to her defense and the absence of such evidence did not prejudice her,” Peck said.

He argued that expert testimony about Vinsek’s mental state was in opposition to her previous defense that she did not participate with Maple in planning and executing the crime.

Maple, 38, of Penn Township, was convicted of first-degree murder and is also serving a life prison term.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger has not scheduled a date to hear Vinsek’s latest appeal.