Pennsylvania’s highest court rejects appeal of truck driver convicted in 1993 killing
Pennsylvania’s highest court rejected Wednesday an appeal of a former truck driver convicted in the 1993 killing of teenager in Centre County.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to review an April ruling from the state Superior Court that found an analyst whose testimony was central to the trial of James R. Cruz Jr. did not commit the errors that were alleged.
The decision from the state Supreme Court likely puts an end to any state appeals, though Cruz may pursue appeals at the federal level. His life sentence for the murder of Dawn Marie Birnbaum, 17, remains undisturbed.
Defense lawyer Steve Trialonas declined an opportunity to immediately comment.
“The District Attorney’s Office is grateful to the dedicated professionals, past and present, responsible for holding Cruz accountable for the 1993 murder,” Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said in a statement. “The closure of this case represents an important success in the history of the District Attorney’s Office.”
Cruz, 65, of Ohio, strangled Birnbaum in March 1993. Her body was found on a snowbank near Interstate 80 in Spring Township.
Birnbaum had run away from a boarding school in Maine. She was last seen at a truck stop where she made a call on a pay phone before running toward the trucks. Cruz claimed he never met Birnbaum, but DNA tests showed the two had sex.
Her wrists were bound and a yellow rope was drawn around her neck. An FBI microscopic hair comparison analyst testified during the 1994 trial that hairs found under the rope, on her body and clothing matched Cruz’s. A hair found in his truck matched Birnbaum’s.
Cruz sought a new trial after an April 2015 press release from the FBI made known there was widespread, systematic error in the conclusion of microscopic hair comparison analysis before 2000. His request was denied after more than six years of litigation.
Jurors deliberated at the end of Cruz’s seven-day trial in June 1994 for about 15 hours. He was convicted of first-degree murder, but was acquitted of kidnapping, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and robbery.
“Nothing, other than I didn’t do it,” Cruz told former Centre County Judge David E. Grine after his trial when asked if he had a statement to make.
Cruz did not testify during his trial. He is detained at Fayette state prison in southwestern Pennsylvania.
This story was originally published February 15, 2023 at 5:15 PM.