GUILDERLAND — Hashim Burnell’s trial for the murder of Todd Pianowski began last Tuesday in Albany County Court, and was then suspended by the judge on Monday in order to consider new fingerprint evidence.

Pianowski was shot to death in the apartment he shared with his girlfriend at 1702 Western Ave. in Guilderland last May.

On Monday, Albany County Judge Steven W. Herrick sent the jury home and adjourned the murder trial until May 1. Herrick told the jury that the prosecutors wanted to admit fingerprints given to them by police, which are believed to be Burnell’s.

The temporary suspension will allow hearings to take place to determine if this newly-discovered fingerprint evidence at the crime scene will be allowed in the trial.
"This is unprecedented in my experience as a trial judge," Herrick said about the three-week trial postponement. The unsequestered jury was strictly warned against reading or watching any news coverage on the murder, or speaking with anyone about the case during the unusually long dismissal.
"You need to have someone else look through the local sections of the newspapers," Herrick told the jurors. "You’re the finders of fact and need to hear the facts from the court and not the media."
Herrick also told the jurors that they were all equals in the case, saying, "I am the judge of the law and you are the judge of the facts."

The trial

The courtroom was a somber scene on Thursday morning as the jury members, made up of eight women and four men, entered. The witnesses stood while the jurors took their seats and Judge Herrick called the proceedings into session. The family and friends of Burnell sat on one side of the court while the Pianowskis and their friends sat on the other.

Dressed in a shirt and tie, while handcuffed and shackled, Burnell was quietly brought in and out of the court each day. He appeared humble, saying very little, and occasionally looking to his family as he walked past them.
"I love you, son," Burnell’s mother whispered as he walked by her. He responded with a soft, "I love you, too," as he was being taken away.

The defense has all along, from the time of Burnell’s arraignment, maintained that Burnell is the wrong man, that he is innocent. At the same time, the Albany County District Attorney’s office has said from the time of the arraignment last May that there is evidence to prove that Burnell robbed and intentionally killed Pianowski.

Eleven witnesses took the stand before last Thursday’s lunch recess, before court proceedings were interrupted. The prosecution brought in small-time drug dealers to testify that Burnell owed them money.
"Basically he dealt coke"I loaned him $300," testified 20-year-old John Blichert of Colonie, who added that his girlfriend also loaned Burnell $300. According to Blichert, Burnell was supposed to buy and sell cocaine with the money, and then give him back "a couple of extra hundred" dollars in return.
Burnell never gave him or his girlfriend the money, but Blichert said it was "not that big of a deal."

However, after the lunch break, there was an unusual delay.

After waiting for roughly 45 minutes, Herrick re-entered the room and told jurors the trial would have to be recessed until the following Monday morning.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, since I last spoke to you"we have conducted some proceedings outside of your presence," Herrick told the jurors. "This is a legal matter"a matter that the court must resolve before we proceed with trial."

The legal matter was precipitated by a call that Chief Assistant District Attorney Michael McDermott received from the New York State Police, saying that police had found a fingerprint match from the crime scene. McDermott and Burnell’s attorney, Joseph Muia, met with Herrick to discuss the discovery of the new evidence.

When court resumed on Monday morning, Herrick told the jurors that the trial must be adjourned once again, until May. The judge explained to the jurors that the new fingerprint evidence would have to be analyzed by both the prosecution and defense, and several fact-finding hearings would need to be held to determine if the prints could be used in trial.
"This case is going to be adjourned for a couple of weeks, that is unprecedented," Herrick said. He told jurors people will want to ask them about the trial, but warned them to "keep the integrity of this process intact."

The charges

Burnell is charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and three counts of first-degree robbery, all felonies.

Pianowski was shot in the head and torso with a .40 caliber handgun on May 5 of 2005, according to the Guilderland Police. At the time, Pianowski was 22 years old and attending Hudson Valley Community College.

He left Guilderland High School when he was 16, his mother said at the time of his death, but then went back to get his General Equivalence Diploma. He was taking business classes, his mother said, and had dreams of becoming a professional bowler.

Pianowski and his girlfriend, Lauren Parker, had dated for five years, his mother said; they lived together in the 1700 Designer Apartments at 1702 Western Ave., in the middle of the three-floor complex.

Parker returned to the home they shared at 2:30 p.m. on May 5, Guilderland Police Chief James Murley told The Enterprise at the time, and confronted the killer.
"He held a gun to her head," just before he ran out of the apartment, Murley said.

Murley told The Enterprise then that he believed the shooting "was a drug-for-money deal."

A massive search from several different agencies then ensued.

Around 10:30 p.m. that evening, the Colonie Police saw Burnell’s car; they stopped him and arrested him for second-degree murder.

Burnell had spent time in prison before. In 2001, when he was 16, and lived with his parents on Lone Pine Road in Guilderland, he was charged with burglarizing a home on Benjamin Street, a felony, which was plea-bargained to a misdemeanor.

From April of 2002 to May of 2004, Burnell served time at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility. Two years after his release, Burnell, then 19, was arrested by Guilderland Police for driving without a license, criminal impersonation, and possession of marijuana.

Burnell is currently in the Albany County Correctional Facility awaiting the resumption of his trial.
"It is my intention to resume this trial on May 1," Herrick told lawyers on Monday. "Your going to have to gear up." The trial will begin at 10:30 a.m.