UPDATE: A gag order has been issued in the Jimmy Snuka murder case (for the prosecution and defense) following interest from NBC’s Dateline in covering the story. Chief Deputy District Attorney Charles Gallagher III made the request, as he was upset about comments from defense attorney Robert Kirwan after the last hearing. He referred to the death of Nancy Argentino in May 1983 in Allentown, Pennsylvania as “an unfortunate accident”.
Gallagher said he was contacted by Dateline for an interview about the case, which lead to Kirwan revealing that NBC was working with the Argentino family. He said that the prosecution used the media to their advantage by releasing their version of the case to the public and helping their case. Judge Kelly L. Branch issued the gag order which means no one else can speak publicly about the case.
ORIGINAL: According to The Allentown Morning Call, Jimmy Snuka was officially arraigned this morning in LeHigh Valley, PA on charges of involuntary manslaughter and third-degree murder charges in the 1983 death of his then-girlfriend Nancy Argentino. Snuka, who plead not guilty on the charges, stated he did not know what day of the week it was nor what city he was in and also told the court he could not write or read English. His attorney reiterated that he is suffering from early onset dementia and post-concussion syndrome. The next hearing will be on December 8th, but Snuka’s attorney has hinted that they will seek a change in venue. This is likely due to the feeling that Snuka may not get a fair trial in a city where rumors that he murdered Argentino had reverberated for decades.
During today’s hearing, prosecutors requested and received a gag order preventing each side from speaking publicly about the case. They claimed that the defense attorney held a “press conference” after the last hearing. The defense argued against the request, arguing that the media assisted in helping the prosecution’s caseby virtue of the Morning Call uncovering an autopsy report that had not been publicly disclosed in their investigation of the 30th anniversary of Argentino’s death. The judge eventually sided with the prosecution.
