WILKES-BARRE, Pa — A man has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, whose body was found in his sport-utility vehicle in northeastern Pennsylvania three years ago.
Jurors in Luzerne County who heard three days of testimony took only about a half-hour Friday to convict 42-year-old Dana Ganjeh in the August 2018 death of 56-year-old Linda Frick. He now faces a mandatory life term without possibility of parole.
Prosecutors characterized Ganjeh as a jealous and abusive boyfriend who brutally killed Frick, whose body was found covered with a blanket and towels in the SUV behind his Kingston apartment. The victim had broken ribs, blood-filled lungs and bleeding in the brain, prosecutors said.
But defense attorneys Demetrius Fannick and Katelyn Spellman argued that Ganjeh defended himself when Frick pulled a pocketknife during a alcohol-fueled argument at her brother’s home in Dreher Township, Wayne County. They argued for an acquittal or at most a third-degree murder conviction.
Authorities alleged that the defendant wanted to silence Frick because she had reported domestic violence on his part a few months earlier. “Linda finally decided to pursue the charges,” Deputy Assistant District Attorney Thomas Hogans said. “Now she’s dead.”
“This was not a planned, premeditated event,” Fannick said. “It was a heat-of-passion event.”
Fannick said after the verdict that he was disappointed but he respected the jury’s verdict, adding “Mr. Ganjeh will obviously be appealing.”
Hogans said he was happy with a verdict he called “right and just.”
“There’s finally justice for Linda Frick and her family,” he said.