Defense claims Unity man's confessions illegally obtained, seeks dismissal of homicide charge
Aug. 3—The lawyer for Unity man awaiting trial in connection with the killing of a Derry mother who police say was shot while asleep in her bed last summer told a judge Tuesday that two confessions his client gave were illegally obtained.
Defense attorney Emily Smarto said Nathan Quidetto should have had a lawyer present during a two-hour interrogation two days after the July 20, 2020, shooting death of 52-year-old Tracy Marie Squib and again after he requested another meeting with investigators two days later.
"These statements were a result of a poisonous tree," Smarto said during a hearing before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Tim Krieger. She is seeking to bar Quidetto's confessions from evidence.
Quidetto, 21, was charged with criminal homicide, reckless endangerment and firearm offenses after police said he fired at least four shots from outside a Pandora Road home into the residence about 4 a.m. while Squib, her husband and two children slept inside.
According to court records, Squib 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.
Quidetto was identified as a suspect by witnesses. During an interrogation, he initially claimed a firearm accidentally discharged as he drove, testified state Trooper Paige
Shreffler. She told the judge Quidetto then changed his story to say he was threatened by a man with a gun and later said he fired his weapon to fend off a man he saw come toward him from a nearby porch.
Prosecutors claim Quidetto fired into the wrong home as he searched for another person who he said was involved in a botched drug deal. Neither Squib nor any of her family members was Quidetto's target, police said.
Shreffler testified Quidetto signed a waiver in which he agreed to talk to police without a lawyer present. Smarto argued the specific waiver signed by Quidetto was not a standard document used by investigators and his confession should be barred from evidence.
A second interrogation on July 24, 2020, was initiated by Quidetto in a letter he wrote from jail after he was charged with the homicide. Trooper David Wineland testified Quidetto was taken to the state police barracks in Greensburg and again waived his right to have a lawyer present before giving multiple versions of the story before he confessed to firing the fatal shots.
Quidetto, at that point, had multiple criminal cases pending, including drug allegations, and was required to have an attorney present when questioned by police, Smarto said.
"There were lawyers of record," Smarto said after Tuesday's hearing.
The judge made no rulings on the defense motions. Krieger said he will allow the defense 30 days to submit additional information and asked that written legal arguments be filed this fall. A date for Quidetto's trial has not been set.
Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .
