Indiana County’s courts are closed for Presidents Day on Monday, but when they reopen on Tuesday, the schedule includes a motions hearing for 25-year-old Reed Thomas Tantlinger of Homer City, who is charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI and three other felony offenses, including third degree murder, for causing a fatal crash in Pine Township in January 2023.
Tantlinger is accused in the death of 25-year-old Hunter McCloskey, whose vehicle was struck by Tantlinger’s pickup as McCloskey was making a turn from Route 422 onto Red Pine Road. Police said Tantlinger was driving an estimated 107 miles per hour and attempting an illegal pass when he collided with the victim’s car, ejecting McCloskey and killing him.
Last week, Tantlinger’s attorney filed a motion to preclude his client’s statements after the accident, when he was reported to have told a witness at the crash scene that he was “going to jail.” He also is alleged to have told police that he fled the scene of the crash because he was afraid he was going to be charged with DUI.
Tantlinger pled guilty to homicide by vehicle last May but in October his request to withdraw his plea was granted. The third degree murder charge was added last month. Jury selection was scheduled for February 23rd, but is now scheduled for May 18th.
There could be some movement in the Ronald Weiss murder retrial, provided an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Wednesday takes place.
In September, Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco granted a defense motion to employ an expert to assist in determining Weiss’s competency to stand trial. A hearing on the matter was continued in October and again in January.
Weiss is accused of murdering 16-year-old Barbara Bruzda of Tunnelton in October of 1978. He was found guilty in 1997 but a federal judge overturned the verdict in 2018. Upon his release, he was immediately re-arrested and charged with the murder again.
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