Ronald Weiss’s long-awaited retrial for the murder of 16-year-old Barbara Bruzda almost 48 years ago is scheduled to begin on August 24th. On Thursday, prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office filed a motion to admit into the record the transcripts from Weiss’s first trial, and to have the transcripts read out loud before the new jury.
The first trial was in 1997, when Weiss was found guilty of first degree murder.
Bruzda was killed in October 0f 1978, and her body was found the following March buried beneath a pile of leaves. Weiss was sentenced to life in prison but a federal judge overturned the conviction in 2018 based on prosecutorial misconduct by the attorney general’s office. Weiss was re-charged and the case has been slowly making its way toward a re-trial since. This will be the sixth attempt to seat a jury.
A motions hearing is scheduled before Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco in July.
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