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March trial set in Jimmy 'Superfly" Snuka homicide

Posted: Dec 10th 2015 By: Laurie Mason Schroeder

After more than 30 years of speculation, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka's homicide case could be settled in as few as four months.

A Lehigh County judge on Tuesday set March 22 as the trial date for the famed pro wrestler, and also reminded the family of the victim, Snuka's girlfriend Nancy Argentino, that there's a gag order in place.

Snuka's attorney, Robert J. Kirwan II, complained that Argentino's sister has been posting links to newspaper stories about the case on her Facebook page.

Snuka, 72, was charged on Sept. 1 with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in Argentino's May 1983 death.

The trial is expected to last about a week, the lawyers told Judge Kelly L. Banach. Before a jury is seated, Banach must decide several pretrial motions, including a prosecution request to inform the jury about evidence of Snuka's prior crimes or bad acts.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Charles F. Gallagher did not outline what evidence he wanted to use at trial, but Kirwin noted that there are 40 pages of grand jury testimony and a 24-page police report detailing the alleged incidents.

"It's a pivotal piece of evidence that could greatly affect the case for both sides," Kirwin said.

The lawyer's statement points to alleged "assaultive behavior" that grand jurors heard about. According to court records, the panel heard evidence of an incident in Syracuse, N.Y., five months before Nancy Argentino's death in which Snuka was accused of dragging the 23-year-old woman by her hair through a hotel while she was naked and screaming for help.

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka was at the Lehigh County Court for his formal arraignment. He is charged in the 1983 death of his girlfriend Nancy Argentino in a Whitehall motel.

Deputies had to force their way into the motel room with police dogs to stop the assault, court records say. The panel also heard evidence that Snuka allegedly beat his former wife in 1983, putting her in the hospital.

A Lehigh County grand jury last year determined that the retired WWE wrestler repeatedly assaulted Argentino in the former George Washington Motor Lodge in Whitehall and then left her in bed to die.

The charges came to light after a 2013 Morning Call investigation that uncovered a previously-unseen autopsy report that concluded that Argentino's death should have been investigated as a homicide.

Snuka, who lives in Camden County, N.J., and is recovering from stomach cancer surgery, denies the charges. He attended Tuesday's hearing in a dark suit and black sneakers, his long gray hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.

He did not speak, and walked stiffly across the courtroom to sign documents at the end of the hearing. Snuka remains free on $100,000 bail.

The gag order was imposed on Nov. 2 at prosecutors' request, after Kirwin addressed the media in October outside the Lehigh County Courthouse. Banach also included prosecutors and "relatives and friends" of Argentino and Snuka in her gag order.

Kirwin told the judge Tuesday that Louise Argentino-Upham is still posting news stories on her page.

"I'm sure my client and his family would like to post the positive stories," Kirwin said.

Argentino-Upham was in the courtroom audience. The judge instructed Gallagher to tell the sister to cease posting the stories, saying she would consider sanctions against the prosecution if she continued.