Jimmy Snuka

The homicide charges against former wrestling star Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka have been officially dropped, with a judge ruling this week that the 73-year-old Snuka (who is suffering from dementia and other ailments) remains incompetent to stand trial.

The charges, of third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, date all the way back to the death of Snuka’s then-girlfriend Nancy Argentino in 1983. She was found unresponsive in a Pennsylvania motel. Despite not being at the scene when paramedics arrived (after he called them), and despite his story changing about how she fell (and whether it was outside the motel room or on the highway), Snuka was never charged initially, but Argentino’s family won a wrongful death suit against him in 1985.

After Snuka’s 2012 memoir Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story was published, Argentino’s family came to Lehigh County district attorney James Martin and asked him to investigate the case. A grand jury looked at excerpts of the book and elected to press charges in 2015. However, last May and June saw four days of testimony on if Snuka was fit to stand trial, and judge Kelly A. Banach eventually ruled that he was not, and that he would be evaluated further in six months. That evaluation’s now happened, and Banach opted to dismiss the charges completely, delivering a court order that said “The court is satisfied that the defendant remains incompetent and the Court is satisfied that the defendant will not regain competence and it would be unjust to resume the prosecution.” As CNN’s story notes, Snuka’s condition isn’t good:

Snuka, 73, has been diagnosed with dementia and showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to [his lawyer, Robert Kirwan II]. He went into home hospice care in October and was moved to in-hospital hospice care at Broward Medical North near his home in Florida on December 17.

Snuka also suffered from a bout of stomach cancer before he was charged in 2015. He was diagnosed in July 2014, and he had intensive surgery in which three-quarters of his stomach, some lymph nodes and part of his large intestine were removed, according to Kirwan.
During the competency hearing, a doctor testified that anesthesia can worsen a person’s dementia, causing their symptoms to be more noticeable and advance at an alarming rate, Kirwan said.

It’s notable that Snuka is one of the 50-plus former wrestlers suing WWE over concussions and CTE he allegedly developed performing for the company’s predecessors during his career. We’ll see if any further developments on that front happen. As for the criminal case against him, while the DA’s executive assistant told CNN “we are considering our options and will decide at the appropriate time what action we will take,” it seems unlikely it will proceed further following this dismissal.

[CNN]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.