Fayette judge to determine if Uniontown homicide suspect will get cash to fund his defense
Arthur Guty
The attorney for the family of a Uniontown woman allegedly killed by her husband asked a Fayette County judge to bar the man from accessing over $130,000 in cash.
Attorney Jeremey Davis contended Arthur Guty, 56, of Uniontown, is not entitled to the cash – seized from him after his arrest in the alleged shooting death of Franverlys “Nicole” Zambranobriceno – under Pennsylvania’s Slayer Statute until after the criminal and civil matters are resolved.
“The reason we filed a petition to intervene and hold the money is because these things have to be sorted out,” Davis said during a Thursday hearing.
Guty is accused of shooting and killing his 26-year-old wife in December and then driving to a Las Vegas resort where police were able to apprehend him and the cash.
During an Aug. 22 hearing before Judge Mark Mehalov, Guty’s defense attorney Brian Aston argued the cash should be returned to Guty because it held “no evidentiary value for the investigation” and could be used to help fund his defense.
The next day, Davis, the attorney for Zambranobriceno’s estate, filed a petition to intervene to put the $135,499 in an escrow account until Guty’s criminal case and the wrongful death lawsuit filed against him are resolved. Davis’ motion said he was not made aware of the Aug. 22 hearing, and found out about it through a news report.
On Thursday, Aston argued that the cash did not fall under the Slayer Act because his client did not obtain the money from the death of his wife. He likened the situation more to that of a divorce proceeding.
“The Slater Act is when you kill someone to get their inheritance from them or something like you kill your business partner so you keep the business,” he said. “That isn’t any of this. This is property that he had and he’s built up through the years.”
Aston offered a compromise, saying Guty could keep $70,000 to help fund his defense, while the rest was put in an escrow account.
District Attorney Mike Auble vehemently objected, contending Guty told family members and police that Zambranobriceno was alive when he knew she was dead, and fled to Las Vegas with the cash.
Mehalov said the fact that the money in question was all in cash further complicates the situation.
“You can’t prove ownership with cash,” he said.
During the Aug. 22 hearing, Uniontown police officer Jamie Holland testified that Las Vegas police found $4,329 in cash in Guty’s possession and another $131,170 in cash lying on the bed in his hotel room.
Holland also testified that Las Vegas Metro police deposited the $131,170 in cash into a bank in Nevada and then sent a check to the Fayette County District Attorney’s office, where it is being held in a local account. The $4,329 found on Guty was confiscated by the Las Vegas Detention Center upon his booking and also sent to the district attorney here.
Mehalov said he would render a decision at a later date.
Guty is currently being held without bond at the Fayette County jail.