Convicted killer Michael Roseboro has asked a state appeals court for a new trial, or at least a hearing, because two jurors communicated with friends on Facebook during the trial.

"Considering all of the postings and communications as cumulative evidence of bias, unfairness and prejudice," Roseboro's attorney claimed, a new trial should have been ordered.

The written appeal was filed late last week with the Pennsylvania Superior Court. Prosecutors will respond before the state court rules on the matter.

Roseboro, 43, a former Denver funeral director, is serving life in prison for killing his 45-year-old wife, Jan, at their Reinholds home in July 2008.

Prosecutors maintain that an extramarital affair pushed Roseboro to kill his wife instead of enduring the financial cost of a divorce.

A jury convicted Roseboro of first-degree murder July 30, following a Lancaster County Court trial that included three weeks of testimony.

Shortly after the verdict was announced, it was learned that two of the jurors had contact with friends through the social networking site, Facebook.

The two jurors expressed frustration about having to serve on the jury and the length of the trial, Roseboro's Reading-based attorney, Allan L. Sodomsky, wrote, in direct violation of the judge's instructions not to discuss the trial.

Defense attorneys immediately claimed juror misconduct, asking for a new trial or, at the very least, a hearing on the matter.

Lancaster County Judge James P. Cullen, who presided over the trial, denied the request.

Cullen said the Facebook posts were "regrettable and contrary to the Court's instructions" but "woefully insufficient to taint the unanimous verdict of the jury."

Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said Monday that he will soon be filing a response to the appeal, but expects the state court will come to the same conclusion as Cullen.

"I am confident that Judge Cullen correctly applied the law and found that Roseboro's claim has no merit," Stedman said.

Sodomsky's latest appeal, which is 15 pages long and includes copies of the Facebook conversations, also claims that the jurors' misconduct denied Roseboro a fair trial.

"Where a juror defies a court's instructions with respect to contacts during the trial, a full hearing is required to determine the extent and scope of the misconduct," Sodomsky wrote.

One young man, Nick Keene, made a negative comment about jury duty, according to the attorney.

But a second young man, Michael Hecker, indicated on Facebook that he was a juror on the Roseboro trial and wrote that it was "actually depressing listening to how and why it happened."

Hecker later posted a comment, "Murder she wrote … check out the Commonwealth v. Michael Roseboro," which Sodomsky suggested indicates the juror had already decided the case.

At the end of the trial, one of Hecker's friends wrote, "just vote guilty and get it over with" and "fry him."

When Hecker wrote that he was "exhausted and annoyed," Sodomsky suggested the juror was already convinced of Roseboro's guilt and "was annoyed by the fact that he had to continue to serve as a juror."

"It is truly difficult to imagine what kind of comment by an outside source could be more prejudicial," Sodomsky wrote, than the "exhortation of a 'friend' to 'fry' a criminal defendant before the trial is over."

If not granted a new trial, Sodomsky is seeking at least a hearing to determine whether the jurors had any other "unauthorized or improper communications" during the trial.

"Given the fact that the two jurors disregarded and disobeyed the court's repeated instruction not to communicate about the trial," Sodomsky wrote, "it is surely plausible that they had other communication with others."

Judges routinely instruct juries to "decide the case solely on the evidence presented at the trial," Sodomsky wrote.

"That instruction is given at every trial, yet the courts have granted new trials where there is sufficient evidence of prejudice by outside information or influence.

"And here," Sodomsky continued, "the two jurors have demonstrated a disregard for the court's instructions and postings on Facebook which actually did garner comments and thoughts directed back at sitting jurors."

jkelley@lnpnews.com