College Township shooting trial postponed

There will be no trial for Alois Kudlach before the end of 2015.

The 49-year-old College Township man is charged with first- and third-degree murder as well as aggravated assault in the Aug. 30 shooting of his wife Nuria, 51, in the kitchen of their Gregor Way home.

On Nov. 23, Centre County Judge Jonathan Grine granted a request from District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller to postpone the trial, which had been slated for the December term of court.

“The court continued the case since not all items of evidence have been returned from the Pennsylvania State Police laboratory,” Parks Miller said.

Court documents show Parks Miller cited “outstanding lab reports” in her motion for postponement.

Defense attorney Karen Muir opposed the motion.

“We don’t have any of the lab reports, all of the search warrants they did the day of his arrest,” she said. “At least, I haven’t gotten them.”

Muir said that also includes the recent DNA tests of Kudlach’s son, Alex, who was present the morning of his mother’s death.

Kudlach claimed in court documents that his wife, a local real estate agent, was actually the aggressor in the incident, and that he had been carrying the .45-caliber handgun for safety, using it when she stepped toward him with a knife. Nuria Kudlach suffered three gunshot wounds, according to police.

Last month, police asked for a DNA sample from the couple’s 19-year-old son to test previously unnoticed blood on the clothing he wore the day of the shooting.

“The stains were characterized by (forensic scientist supervisor Jeffrey) Wagner as possible blood spatter, not blood transfer or smears. In order to identify the stains on Alexander’s T-shirt, Wagner requested that a buccal sample from Alexander be submitted for identification and comparison,” Detective Ralph Ralston wrote in his request for a search warrant for the young man’s DNA.

Muir said her client has admitted to the shooting and that lab tests are therefore irrelevant. She said her client will be claiming self-defense and that she is ready to move to trial.

Grine overruled her opposition, pushing Kudlach’s case to the February term of court.

Nuria Kudlach’s murder was the first such homicide in Centre County in years, but it was followed two months later by the stabbing death of Natalya Podnebennaya allegedly by her husband, Vladimir Podnebennyy, also in College Township.

Muir also represents Podnebennyy.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 3:41 PM with the headline "College Township shooting trial postponed."