A Prospect man who has been given a retrial for a homicide case by the Pennsylvania Superior Court was back in court yesterday after a challenge by the prosecution.
32-year-old Jeremey Sickenberger has been represented by attorney Marco Attisano who worked pro-bono from 2016 to March of this year. In June the courts ruled Attisano should be paid for work done dating back to March. Yesterday the District Attorney’s office filed a new challenge, claiming that due to Sickenberger now having income above the 150 percent poverty guidelines and not being actively imprisoned he no longer requires a court appointed lawyer.
Since Sickenberger’s release in June, he has begun working as a truck driver as he awaits his retrial. The prosecution believes Sickenberger income now no longer qualifies for a court appointed lawyer due to the income restrictions.
Attisano argues that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on this issue in 2016 and says when accounting for qualifications for a court appointed lawyer liabilities such as dependents and court case costs should be included.
No word on when a ruling will be made but Attisano said in court he would remain with the case until the end and would need to be removed by the State Supreme Court during the hearing.
Jury selection for the retrial will begin in September.