Steve Szarewicz has been sitting in jail for over four decades over a murder he might not have committed. Words have power, and those of the four jailhouse informants sent Szarewicz to jail. They testified that Szarewicz confessed to them about the murder of Billy Merriwether, 25. Even though three of the four jailhouse informants recanted at one point, Szarewicz is still in jail, fighting for his freedom through appeals. The question is, though, is there a light at the end of the tunnel for Szarewicz?
What Happened to Billy Merriwether
Merriwether was an unemployed young man who was living on public assistance. Three weeks prior to his untimely death, Merriwether was hospitalized due to a man stabbing him. The man claimed that Merriwether bullied him into stabbing him. In addition to this, Merriwether was familiar with crime, as he was charged with beating a woman during a convenience store robbery. Rumor has it that some people with ties to organized crime were after him as they believed that he had stolen from them.
Anxiety and fear took over the young man’s last days, as he spent part of them practicing shooting his firearm. Adding to his concern, his father-in-law, local mobster Mitch Roditis, didn’t like the fact that Merriwether was black and his daughter was white. Tension was high.
On the day of his murder, Merriwether went to a friend, asking for $1,500 by 9 a.m. Later that day, gunshots were heard, and a nearby road crew saw a car speed by. It had two men inside who drove away and left Merriwether’s dead body behind.
Steve Szarewicz Enters The Situation
The formulated theory is that Steve Szarewicz and two other men were hired by angry father-in-law Roditis to kill Meriwether. It is important to note that Roditis was never charged with the crime. Szarewicz was also a known man to the police. Before the murder, his criminal record included armed robbery, receiving stolen property, gun charges, and drug offenses. However, he may not be guilty of this crime as there were no fingerprints, no eyewitness testimony, no DNA evidence, and no weapons found at the scene of the death. Instead, Szarewicz’s fate lay in the hands of the four jailhouse informants and the jury.
What Went Down in Court
Steve Szarewicz testified that he was staying with his sister and her boyfriend, and they corroborated his alibi. In addition, Szarewicz had undergone a polygraph test, which concluded that he was truthful. The problem is that polygraph test results are not admissible in court due to lack of reliability. With no physical evidence, only the testimonies of the jailhouse informants and a theory formulated by the prosecution pointed to his guilt.
The jury asked the judge if they could convict someone without physical evidence, to which the judge answered that they needed to be more specific. Circumstantial evidence was the new kid on the block in the courtroom in the 1980s. Ultimately, Szarewicz’s demeanor seemed “cocky” to the jury, which helped lead to his conviction.
Jailhouse Informants Swinging Back and Forth
Three out of the four jailhouse informants who testified that Steve Szarewicz confessed to the murders recanted their statements. The first was Dave Cannon. Cannon wrote a letter stating that it wouldn’t be fair for Szarewicz to go to prison and that Cannon testified only because he thought it could help Szarewicz get out of jail. He even confirmed to a defense investigator that Szarewicz never confessed to anything about being involved with Merriwether’s murder. At trial, however, Cannon recanted his recantation and said he only said this because he feared Szarewicz. When contacted by the Associated Press, he insisted that Szarewicz confessed and that he now has memory problems.
The second was Ernie Bevilacqua. He wrote an affidavit that he lied about everything and was willing to help Steve Szarewicz and say what really happened. Years later, Bevilacqua recanted his recantation, as he told a court-appointed investigator that he recanted just because he was afraid of Szarewicz, his friends, and fellow prisoners. He also said that he had memory problems when he was approached by an Associated Press reporter and ordered him to go away.
The third informant to recant his statement was Rick Bowen. Bowen approached defense attorney Pat Thomassey, who later signed an affidavit saying Bowen indicated to him that he had lied about Steven Szarewicz to make a deal for himself and to avoid being prosecuted for various crimes. Bowen, however, later denied the exchange before he died in 1997.
What Awaits Szarewicz
The prosecution has long fought to uphold Steve Szarewicz’s conviction, and the courts are on the same page. Allegheny County Judge Kevin Sasinoski said Szarewicz’s most recent claims weren’t enough to win him a post-trial appeal. The evidence that Szarewicz has is that Bowen got a deal from the prosecution for his testimony and that Bevilacqua changed his story when telling it to a court-appointed investigator.
Steve Szarewicz’s ray of hope is The Innocence Project. They wrote Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala a 14-page letter that outlined their concerns and asked if the prosecution would review the case and reopen their files. The office responded that they would review the matter.
The Current Status Of The Case
Currently, Szarewicz is at the State Correctional Institution—Houtzdale in a shared cell. He works as a custodian, which pays him about $75 a month. He spends his time working on his case, and sometimes he helps other inmates with theirs. In his free time, he walks regularly and participates in Bible study. He is appalled by the injustice the system has brought on him; however, he hasn’t given up hope and he is still fighting for his freedom.
