By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
A 36-year-old Salamanca man convicted of first-degree assault and sentenced to 18 years in prison in connection with the death of another Salamanca man will receive a new trial.
Citing an incomplete Miranda warning by police, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, Fourth Department, overturned the first-degree assault conviction of Derrick C. Marsh, then 30, of Salamanca.
He had been convicted in July 2021 and sentenced to 18 years in prison by Cattaraugus County Court Judge Ronald Ploetz.
Marsh had been found not guilty at a jury trial of all other charges including second-degree murder, first-degree assault, tampering with physical evidence and concealing a corpse.
Jeremiah Des Jarlais, 40, was convicted in a separate trial of all other charges including second-degree murder, first-degree assault, tampering with physical evidence and concealing a corpse.
Cattaraugus District Attorney Lori P. Rieman said earlier that Marsh and Skoken, who were neighbors, were fighting when Des Jarlais placed a garrote over Skoken’s neck. Marsh then ran away and was not present when Skoken was murdered by Des Jarlais, according to the district attorney.
Skoken’s body was found by police Jan. 12, 2020 in a garage at 37 Waite Ave., that was owned by Des Jarlais’ wife.
Des Jarlais and Marsh were questioned by Salamanca Police the next day, leading to second-degree murder and other charges being lodged against both of them.
The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo appealed Marsh’s conviction over the judge’s failure to suppress videotaped statements by Marsh after he waived his Miranda rights. The appeal argued that Marsh was not read his rights by the detective interrogating him, and that he (Marsh) read only the first two sentences before signing the paper presented to him, the videotape showed.
The justice of the Fourth Department vote 4-1 to order a new trial over the Miranda question. Only Justice J.J. Keane voted to affirm Marsh’s conviction.
The majority wrote: “The detective did not observe defendant read the form, and defendant did not have the form in front of him long enough to read all of the warnings before he signed it. We remind the Government that a heavy burden rests upon it to prove that a person in custody did knowingly and intelligently waive [the] privilege against self-incrimination and [the] right to retained or appointed counsel [and] the preferred practice would include both an oral recitation of the required Miranda warnings coupled with the delivery of a written explanation thereof to the accused.”
Keane wrote: “Although it would have been preferable if the detective had read the form aloud to defendant, there is nothing in this record to suggest the defendant was denied adequate time to read the Miranda warnings form or was pressured in any way to sign the waiver. No trickery or coercion of any form occurred.”
Rieman told the Olean Star on Monday that she is still researching her options and plans to meet with the victim’s family “before we decide our course of action. We will not have to go back to the grand jury, but we are limited to the first-degree assault charge.”
The district attorney said Marsh has not been returned to the county jail yet.
It’s unclear whether there is enough evidence available to the district attorney to obtain another conviction on the first-degree assault charge without the self-incriminating statements made by the defendant which were thrown out by the appellate court.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
