Former Bridgewater councilman set free in Walsh cold case sues police investigators

BRIDGEWATER ‒ A former borough councilman who spent nearly a decade in prison in a high-profile Beaver County cold case before having his murder conviction overturned, has filed a lawsuit against investigators in his case.

In a complaint filed with the western Pennsylvania courts, Gregory Hopkins alleges investigators charged him in 2012 for the 1979 murder of Janet Walsh without probable cause and fabricated evidence. In his lawsuit, Hopkins names Beaver County detective Andrew Gall and Pennsylvania State Police troopers Rocco DeMaiolo and Ashlee Mangan as members of a civil conspiracy.

"The defendants in this case do not deserve to wield the power we’ve given them," said Alec Wright, who is representing Hopkins. "The false criminal narrative that they created against Mr. Hopkins is patently absurd and beyond implausible. They should be ashamed and rejected for what they did to Mr. Hopkins. As for Mr. Hopkins, his fight for justice goes on with the filing of this case."

Charges were originally filed against Hopkins in January 2012 after prosecutors connected him to the unsolved murder of 23-year-old Catherine Janet Walsh. Walsh was found murdered in her Monaca apartment on Sept. 1, 1979, after her father discovered her body when she didn't show up to work that day.

More on Walsh:Brother recalls how Walsh made things "extra special"

Initial investigations showed Walsh's hands had been bound behind her back and that she was strangled to death, but there did not appear to be any signs of forced entry into the apartment. Physical evidence was collected from the scene and various interviews were conducted with potential suspects, but the murder would remain unsolved and see no progress for more than 30 years.

After Beaver County's cold case unit reopened the investigation in 2010, detectives discovered DNA evidence on Walsh's nightgown, bedsheets and the rope used to bind her hands. After sending this evidence to the lab, tests linked the DNA to Hopkins, who had been having an affair with Walsh at the time of the murder. When initially interviewed, Hopkins stated that he was preparing a pig roast for his company at the suspected time of the murder.

More on the arrest:"Science caught up" in 1979 Monaca homicide

After officers obtained a cup Hopkins had used at the borough's municipal office to obtain sample DNA, a warrant was issued to compel Hopkins to cooperate with a full DNA test. This was one of the key pieces of evidence used to charge Hopkins, with forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht providing expert testimony for prosecutors.

Wecht's testimony was originally contested by Hopkins's defense team, who cited that his statements did not meet the court's expectations of certainty, but the defense did not file for a separate Frye hearing at this time. Frye hearings are typically held to determine the validity of expert witnesses such as Wecht. If this hearing had been held, the court would have needed to prove that Wecht's methods were widely accepted by the scientific community.

More on the first appeal:Man convicted in cold-case homicide seeks new trial

On Nov. 22, 2013, the jury found Hopkins guilty of third-degree murder and he faced a sentence of 8 to 16 years in prison. While an appeal attempt was made by Hopkins's lawyer, the conviction was upheld in a superior court decision in 2015.

In 2017, Hopkins's lawyer filed a Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA) petition in relation to the original defense team neglecting to file for a Frye hearing prior to the trial. In this petition, testimony from other forensic pathologists reviewing the case were attached, in which they described Wecht's observations as "outside the proper scope of the science of forensic pathology" and not "generally accepted methodology in the field."

While initially denied by the court in 2018, the case was later taken to the superior court for review. On April 6, 2020, the Superior Court reversed Hopkins's conviction and ordered a new trial, which ruled that the defense should have filed for a Frye hearing and deprived Hopkins of a fair trial. On Jan. 21, 2022, the charges against Hopkins were dismissed by the court and he was officially exonerated from the crime.

Hopkins filed the lawsuit against the three detectives involved on Tuesday, alleging all the parties named in the document are guilty of conspiring against him. According to the suit, Hopkins is seeking damages for lost wages, emotional harm and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

Both the Pennsylvania State Police and the Beaver County Detectives Bureau have declined to comment on the situation and the pending litigation.