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A death row inmate convicted in the 2010 torture and murder of a mentally disabled woman in Greensburg wants a new lawyer after waiting more than three years for his court-appointed counsel to file an appeal.
Ricky Smyrnes, 34, formerly of North Huntingdon, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection in connection with the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty in an apartment he shared with five others more than a decade ago.
Pittsburgh lawyer Thomas Farrell was appointed in 2017 to handle the second appeal, which is expected to challenge the quality of Smyrnes’ legal representation during his 2013 trial. Smyrnes, in a letter sent from death row at SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County, claims he has been unable to communicate with Farrell and asked Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears to appoint him a new lawyer.