Following District Attorney Craig Stedman’s Departmental Presentation at the Tuesday, October 28 County Commissioner Meeting, NewsLanc asked Stedman for his position on the mysterious 2003 death of Baltimore-based Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan Luna in rural northern Lancaster County. When asked if he would consider taking up the case, Stedman said that, according to his knowledge, the Federal investigation of Luna’s death is not yet a closed case.
As of May 2009, Luna’s case remained under a joint investigation undertaken by the FBI and the Baltimore Office of the Pennsylvania State Police.
In December of 2003, Luna’s body was found face-down in a creek, with 36 stab wounds and defensive cuts marring his hands. The Lancaster County Coroner, who ruled Luna’s death a homicide, reported that Luna’s hands had been “shredded.” The then District Attorney of Lancaster did not take up the case, deferring it to Federal authorities. Since then, some have raised the question of an FBI cover-up, citing the withholding of evidence, disinformation to the public, and intimidation of friends and family members.
The controversy surrounding Luna’s death has spurred the publishing of a book and a possible motion picture.
A transcript of NewsLanc‘s exchange with Stedman follows:
NewsLanc: Would you consider opening your own case on the death of Jonathan Luna?
Stedman: “In my understanding, there is a case that’s being handled by the Feds. That’s what I was told when I came in. I never worked on the case—I was in the office, but I never worked on the case. That was handled by the DA at the time. My understanding was that, early on, the Feds were the primary jurisdiction, since he was a Federal prosecutor, and they’re handing it, and they have the case. I wasn’t aware that it was closed; no one told me that.”
NewsLanc: Would it be breaching any established rules of conduct for you to open something while they are looking at it?
Stedman: “Well, you never want to have two organizations investigating the same thing. By that same token, if there’s information that comes to light, relevant to the case, surely we’re going to do the appropriate thing with it. What I would do is forward it to the Federal—I guess it’s the US Attorney in the Eastern District—it’s my understanding that they have the case. Unless some other factors come through, they’re investigating his death. And I know its an extensive investigation. But I don’t know whether there’s been anything recent or not.”
“I was in the office, but I wasn’t handling that. So it’s difficult for me to comment on it. It’s like you’re a surgeon and there are two surgeries going on, and you don’t know what the other surgeon is doing while you’re working on your case.”
NewsLanc: The complication with this situation would be that some who consider this a homicide have noted the presence of probable cause on the Federal side of things. So there could be a conflict of interest with it being a Federal case.
Stedman: “Well, obviously, those are pretty serious accusations. But, obviously, if there was information that anything was being handled inappropriately by any investigator, we don’t want a conflict of interest. I haven’t heard anything that would indicate that there was anything inappropriate being done by anybody involved in this case. I can only say what I know.”
“I’m not really sure what the conflict of interest would be. I would assume that they’d want to solve the murder of one of their employees more than anyone else.”
“It’s just hard for me, because I just wasn’t involved in it. My understanding is that it’s a Federal case.”
Stedman presents on DA Office Developments
During the meeting, Stedman’s presentation touched on a number of developments that have occurred since he took office as District Attorney in 2008. Since taking over, Stedman has sought to engender a “widespread approach” to targeting crimes that necessitate a longer sentence. Chief among these cases are violent crimes, sexual offenses, and repeat offenses. Stedman said that he has also sought to crack down on home burglary, which can have a devastating impact on the victim’s sense of personal safety: “If there was ever a crime that deserved a mandatory minimum sentence,” Stedman said, it would be this.
Since 2008, Stedman said, the District Attorney’s Office has been rearranged into “more of a military type organization,” in which each supervisor is assigned to a crime-specific unit—sexual assault, juvenile court, major crimes, etc. This way, Stedman explained, each case can be handled with greater technical focus and skill.
The Juvenile Court Unit has been pursuing new solutions to straightening out youth offenders while minimizing the need for institutionalization. As a result, Stedman said, there has been a significant drop in the number service days provided at Lancaster’s juvenile facilities—from 1,600 days each month before 2008 to less than 9,000 today.
According to Stedman, child predator activity has increased at an concerning rate in recent years, largely through internet activity. To handle this problem, the DA’s Office is considering a new internet predator unit.
One program that has hit hard times, Stedman said, is the countywide Drug Task Force. This unit performs long-term investigations across municipal borders to catch major drug dealers in the county. The program, Stedman said, has lost the DA Office’s Felony Drug Prosecution Unit about $200,000 each year. Noting that some municipalities donate more money to the Humane Society than this Task Force, Stedman said that he will most likely request aid from the Commissioners at a later date.
Sounds like a politician, doesn’t he?
I’ve always wondered if there was any connection between Jonathon Luna’s death and Ray Gricar’s disappearance.