Jan. 15—WILKES-BARRE — A Wilkes-Barre man accused with fatally running over a rival in Plains Township pled not guilty to a criminal homicide charge Wednesday.
Louis Weihbrecht, 56, of South Main Street, appeared via video from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for a formal arraignment and status conference before Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr.
Weihbrecht’s attorney, John B. Pike, entered the not guilty plea on his client’s behalf.
Plains Township police and detectives from the district attorney’s office charged Weihbrecht with intentionally striking Mark Reginald Svadeba, 47, with a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck outside an auto-repair garage on North Main Street, Plains Township, on Sept. 13.
Svadeba died at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township.
During a preliminary hearing held Nov. 8, Assistant District Attorney James L. McLaughlin played surveillance footage of Weihbrecht and Svadeba engaged in a verbal confrontation before Weihbrecht lurched his truck forward running over Svadeba.
Weihbrecht then reversed the truck, as the video showed, dragging Svadeba about 30 feet.
A witness to the incident testified during the preliminary hearing Weihbrecht went “full-throttle” when he ran over Svadeba.
Investigators allege Weihbrecht and Svadeba were in a dispute over the same woman.
Meanwhile, Pike recently filed a petition seeking additional evidence, including names and addresses of “every witness,” statements Weihbrecht may have given to investigators and medical treatment given to Svadeba at the scene and at Geisinger Wyoming Valley.
Weihbrecht’s trial is scheduled for September.