Trial for homicide suspect delayed due to prosecuting attorney’s retirement
The trial for homicide defendant Amanda Hughes has been delayed from its scheduled date of mid-September due to the retirement of prosecuting attorney Terri Schultz from the office of Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger.
“The attorney that had been prosecuting the case retired in late July, and the case has been reassigned,” Goldinger said Tuesday. “Because of the workload and the short staff in the office due to two retirements this year, the case is being continued.”
Hughes, 28, of Cranberry Township, is charged with criminal homicide in the death of her boyfriend, 30-year-old Anthony D. Smith, in February 2023. Smith was found dead of five gunshot wounds in Hughes’ home in Cranberry.
Jury selection was scheduled for Sept. 11, and the trial was to start Sept. 16. Those have now been pushed back to an undetermined time.
Assistant district attorney Laura Pitchford replaced Schultz as prosecuting attorney in the case. Defending Hughes is Kenneth J. Haber of the Difenderfer, Rothman, Haber & Mancuso law firm in Pittsburgh.
During a status conference in the judge’s chambers on Tuesday, Aug. 27, the prosecution argued it needs time to get up to speed on the facts of the case, and it was not ready for the trial to go ahead at this time.
