Attorney for Pitt researcher who poisoned wife optimistic for new trial

The attorney for the former University of Pittsburgh researcher convicted in 2014 of poisoning his wife with cyanide remains optimistic about a hearing his client is seeking for a new trial, despite a recent ruling from a judge dismissing most of his arguments.

Robert Ferrante has asked for a new trial, arguing he had ineffective counsel during his first.

In an opinion released this week, Judge Jeffrey A. Manning dismissed most of the 17 claims arguing for a new trial without the need for a hearing.

“We feel that all of the issues we raised have merit,” Ferrante attorney Chris Rand Eyster said Wednesday.

Ferrante, 70, is serving a life sentence at the State Correctional Institution Houtzdale, in Clearfield County. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2014 for lacing a nutritional drink with cyanide that killed his wife, UPMC neurologist Dr. Autumn Klein.

Klein, 41, died April 20, 2014, three days after collapsing at their home in the Schenley Farms section of Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood.

In July, Eyster filed a petition in Allegheny County court raising 17 claims of ineffective counsel during the course of Ferrante’s trial. Manning tossed out most of them.

But on the issue of whether Ferrante’s initial counsel, attorneys William Difenderfer and Wendy Williams, erred when they didn’t persist in having the case heard by an out-of-county jury, Manning wrote there are grounds for a hearing on the matter.

Manning also asked Eyster to bolster three of the claims with further explanation. Eyster said he will do so.

“We’re looking forward to having the evidentiary hearing,” Eyster said. “We intend to address each of the court’s comments in our reply and hopefully we’ll have a more expanded evidentiary hearing.”