By ANTHONY COLAROSSI
Times Leader Staff Writer

WILKES-BARRE - Today the world starts to learn more about why state police and the Luzerne County district attorney believe Joann Curley poisoned, tortured and eventually killed her husband.

Joann Curley's preliminary hearing is to begin today. It will be covered, watched and scrutinized as if it was a local version of an O.J. Simpson trial.

But today's proceeding is not a trial. It is only the first step in a legal process that could lead to a jury verdict.

Still, the hearing is sure to bring obscure, technical testimony and evidence that will demand the attention of the prosecution and defense.

That's an opinion, and it comes from someone who knows about thallium poisoning.

Lt. Susan Goreck, with the Polk County Sheriffs Office in Bartow, Fla., went undercover to help solve the Peggy Carr thallium poisoning murder in 1990.

"We had chemists from just about everywhere," Goreck said, recalling evidence brought to a grand jury before authorities formally charged Peggy Carr's neighbor, George Trepal, with her murder in Alturas, Fla.

"It's probably going to get very technical. You really have to get into explanations on what type of machinery was used to do (toxicological) testing.

"It's so detailed. I don't want to say it's above people's heads, but it might be that or it might just be boring. I find it interesting."

Trepal was convicted of first-degree murder, the same charge Curley faces. And he is on death row, a place Curley might end up if prosecutors have their way. Trepal recently lost his death sentence appeal.

"It's probably one of the worst things you can be poisoned with," Goreck said. "It was unimaginable why someone would do that to another person ... (Trepal) really disliked the next door neighbors."

District Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. and his team of prosecutors are beginning a long journey to what they hope will be a conviction in this case.

Today they must prove what is called a "prima facie" case against Curley, who is charged with first-degree murder in the thallium poisoning death of Robert Curley in 1991.

Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Patrick Toole helped define what a preliminary hearing is in a 1992 ruling on another murder case.

"The purpose of such a hearing is not to determine guilt or innocence," Toole wrote. "The principal function of the hearing is to protect an individual's rights against an unlawful arrest or detention.

"The commonwealth must show the presence of each element necessary to constitute each offense charged and the defendant's complicity in each offense," Toole's ruling states.

Olszewski could not be reached for comment Thursday. But his opponent was available.

"What we really want to do ... is listen to the commonwealth's evidence and go from there," said Curley's lead attorney, Frank Nocito.

Nocito said he might call witnesses, but he will definitely have some of his own scientific experts on the scene if needed.

Olszewski's case against Joann Curley is based on an elaborate exclusion theory that says Robert Curley was poisoned with thallium several times.

The affidavit of probable cause says Robert Curley might have been poisoned 11 months before his death in September 1991. It states he received a final "heavy exposure" at the Hershey Medical Center days before his death.

Olszewski is using several toxicological experts to interpret samples of Curley's hair, fingernails, toenails, tissues and organs.

Their analyses and scientific understanding of thallium poisoning is the basis of the prosecution's case.

The experts claim Joann Curley is the only person who had access to her husband during all the instances he was poisoned, the affidavit says.

But Goreck said the prosecution might be sitting on a lot of information vital to its case. "For us there was a lot more," she said.

According to the affidavit, Olszewski's experts are at the top of their field.

Dr. Fredric Reiders is the laboratory director of National Medical Services in Willow Grove, outside Philadelphia.

Dr. James Garriott is the chief toxicologist for the Bexar County Forensic Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. Garriott believes Robert Curley was last poisoned sometime between Sept. 18 and Sept. 22, 1991. He died Sept. 27.

Siding with Reiders and Garriott are prominent forensic pathologists Michael Baden and Cyril H. Wecht.

William Ruzzo, who is assisting Nocito with the defense, said he suspects Wecht will testify today because the district attorney's office initially rescheduled the preliminary hearing to fit Wecht's schedule.

"I think you can count on Cyril Wecht being there," Ruzzo said. "I don't know who else they're putting on. I probably will not be (cross-examining) their experts, so I'm liable to take anybody else."

The defense team goes into the hearing not knowing much more about Olszewski's case than what is in the affidavit filed on the day of Joann Curley's arrest.

"We have some idea," Ruzzo said. "We're not completely in the dark."

Curley's preliminary hearing starts at 9:30 a.m. before District Justice Martin Kane of Wilkes-Barre. Those who arrive first will get seats, according to one of Kane's staffers.

"There's only 50 chairs, but there's lots of standing room," she said. "We're only hoping (to hold the hearing one day), but we're not sure."