Published: June 03, 2008 12:58 pm         

ORLEANS COUNTY COURT: McKeon disputes search warrant

ALBION — The new defense attorney for Richard J. McKeon has made it clear that he will actively fight McKeon’s second-degree murder charge.

The battle begins with claims that there are “constitutional” flaws in the initial search warrant.

John Nuchereno, a Buffalo attorney with considerable experience in homicide cases, contends that the incorrect address — Route 40A instead of Route 240A — was recorded in the warrant by state police officers. He also asserts that the document was never amended to reflect McKeon’s actual address.

“The application and the resulting warrant did not describe the premises,” Nuchereno said in Orleans County Court Monday. “This is a fundamental lacking of a basic allegation.”

Nuchereno further argued that the search warrant failed to include language — certain “constitutional safeguards” — normally included in a search warrant. It should have been worded so that any police officer could read it and find the property or person of suspect, he said.

“There’s no way a person could look at these documents ... and say that the ambiguities could be cleared up,” he said.

Orleans County Judge James Punch agreed that the process by which the application was submitted needs to be clarified. Punch said he was issued the search warrant first, but rejected it due to a conflict of jurisdiction.

Whether the judge in Cattaraugus County issued a “telephonic change” to the warrant must also be ascertained, he said. A court hearing to address the matter will take place July 9.

“I will take additional argument after the hearing, if you want,” Punch said.

McKeon, 48, has been held in the Orleans County Jail on $500,000 cash or bond bail since his early March arrest in the slaying of his 47-year-old girlfriend. Prosecutors allege he strangled her in their West Valley home before transporting her to the Town of Barre and burning her body in the middle of a country roadway.

The first defense attorney McKeon hired, George Muscato of Lockport, entered an initial plea of not guilty at McKeon’s arraignment April 1. He has since been fired and was officially replaced by Nuchereno in court Monday.

In addition to the second-degree murder charge, McKeon also faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly bringing the body across county lines illegally and improperly disposing of the body.

A plea bargain offered by the Orleans County District Attorney’s office would have McKeon plead guilty to the murder charge with the promise his sentence would not exceed 20 years in state prison.

Statements made by Nuchereno attest McKeon may not accept the plea bargain. They also will not argue “diminished capacity,” he said.

Contact reporter Nicole Colemanat 798-1400, ext. 8227.