[from the Press Enterprise serving the Bloomsburg/Berwick area]
Local prosecutors will appeal recent court decisions that gave one defendant a new trial in a 1987 Berwick murder and cleared another man of gambling charges for nightly poker games.
Assistant District Attorney Tom Leipold said formal notices of appeal were filed this week with the state Superior Court, which will schedule legal arguments once all court records in both cases are sent to Harrisburg.
"The appeals could take the better part of the year. Generally, it's not uncommon for the appellate courts to take eight to 10 months in reaching a decision," Leipold said.
In the gambling case, local poker organizer Walter "Buzz" Watkins of Bloomsburg and his dealer girlfriend Diane Dent were each facing up to 20 charges after State Police vice squad investigators raided their garage games and home last summer.
An undercover trooper sat in on several "no-limit" Texas Hold 'Em games, but the cases were later thrown out by Columbia County Judge Thomas A. James Jr.
James agreed with the defense that poker games like Texas Hold 'Em require more player skill than chance in order to win and thus were not illegal.
The judge cited various statistical studies and academic works published on poker in a lengthy legal analysis of the game. He also pointed to how laws on gambling vary widely from state to state.
"It all comes down to interpretation of the law. And unfortunately, the criminal statute doesn't really define what gambling is when dealing with card games as opposed to case law that has evolved on poker machines," Leipold said.
"Ultimately, if it turns out that the Superior Court upholds Judge James' decision, it may be an issue that the state Legislature may want to look at to better define what illegal gambling is," Leipold said.
Leon Bogdan covers courts and police and can be reached at 784-2121, extension 1307, or by e-mailing him at leon.b@pressenterprise.net.