SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) -
A report by an expert witness for the prosecution says a man who has served almost four decades in prison in the shotgun slayings of two children in northeastern Pennsylvania has acknowledged responsibility in the deaths.
Fifty-three-year-old Joseph Ausilio was convicted in Lackawanna County in the murders of 8-year-old Cheryl Ziemba and 4-year-old Christopher Ziemba in Old Forge in July 1981, when the defendant was 15. The children’s bodies were found two days later at an abandoned strip mine.
The (Scranton) Times-Tribune reports that a psychiatric expert for the prosecution says Ausilio told him in May 2018 that “The gun went off. Chris died. I was so … shocked. Then next, Cheryl died.”
A county judge will consider the report Wednesday when he re-sentences Ausilio in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court mandate barring automatic life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder.
Defense attorney Joseph D’Andrea is seeking a sentence of time served, meaning Aulisio would immediately be eligible for parole. He argues that his client didn’t intend to kill the children and tried to cover up their murders out of fear.
“Joseph agonized for the crimes he committed, the loss of lives, the sadness for the Ziemba family and the shame he brought his own family for years,” said D’Andrea, adding that his client has tried to better himself in prison, earning his GED and learning carpentry.
County District Attorney Mark Powell argues that Aulisio should be sentenced to 70 years - 35 years for each child, to be served consecutively.
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