Pennsylvania's top court has declined to hear an appeal from the man convicted of killing Old Forge restaurateur Robert Baron.
A Lackawanna County jury found Justin Schuback guilty of first-degree murder in May 2024, and he is serving an automatic life sentence in the case. Lackawanna County Judge Terrence Nealon also ordered Schuback to serve 7.5 to 15 years for robbery and burglary.
State Superior Court in October 2025 upheld Schuback's conviction and sentence. He appealed to the state Supreme Court. The high court on Tuesday issued an order denying Schuback's petition, without explanation.
Prosecutors said Schuback, now 39, broke into Gigharelli’s Pizza on the night of Jan. 25, 2017, intending to rob the business, where Baron was known to keep large amounts of cash. He apparently encountered Baron, violently attacking and killing him.
Despite evidence of a bloody attack inside the restaurant and blood found inside a car that Baron had been using, his remains were not located until March 2023 near Pagnotti Park in Old Forge.
Investigators said Schuback was a suspect from early in the case, but it took several years to uncover the evidence necessary to make an arrest.
Advances in cellular phone tracking technology eventually helped investigators trace Schuback's movements around the time Baron disappeared to the area where the skeletal remains were found in the woods near a power pole line, troopers said at trial.
Schuback was arrested in March 2023. His trial began Monday, May 6, 2024.
Jurors, who deliberated for about 10 hours over two days, were asked to decide whether Schuback was guilty of first, second, or third-degree murder, as well as burglary and robbery.
Jurors heard from numerous prosecution witnesses over four-and-a-half days of testimony, but they never heard from Schuback — who opted not to testify in his own defense — or from any defense witnesses.
They returned to the courtroom on the afternoon of May 15, 2024, announcing they had found Schuback guilty of the most serious charge, as well as burglary and robbery.
Nealon handed down Schuback's sentence on July 10, 2024.
Schuback's appeal faulted Nealon on several counts — including the judge allowing a jailhouse informant to testify about admissions Schuback made while incarcerated — and questioned whether the jury's conviction was supported by the evidence presented.
"As the trial court detailed in great length, the Commonwealth presented 'an ocean' of evidence demonstrating [Schuback's] culpability," Superior Court's October ruling stated. "The jury, as fact-finder, while passing on the credibility of the witnesses and weight of the evidence, was free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence."
Gigharelli’s Pizza, meanwhile, reopened for business last week, according to social media posts.
