LAWRENCE COUNTY Official dismisses threats charge against man convicted in killing

The defendant was accused of sending an anthrax threat to his attorney.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A former Struthers man now serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania prison will not face additional charges for an apparent joke that backfired.
Matthew Mangino, the Lawrence County district attorney, said his office has decided to dismiss a terroristic threats charge filed in 2002 against Perry S. Ricciardi II.
Ricciardi, 23, was convicted earlier this year on charges of homicide and was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ricciardi and two other men were accused in the stabbing death of 12-year-old Shannon Leigh Kos of Youngstown.
She was killed in October 2000 in a secluded section of Mahoning Township, Lawrence County.
Mangino said his office decided not to pursue the case after reviewing the evidence.
"The guy has a life sentence without the possibility of parole. We didn't see the sense in going through a difficult trial on an insignificant charge in light of the circumstances," he said Monday.
Anthrax threat
Ricciardi was charged with terroristic threats while awaiting trial on the Kos murder. New Castle Police said a piece of mail addressed to Ricciardi's attorney, Dennis A. Elisco, contained an anthrax threat.
Elisco previously argued in court that the reference to anthrax on the envelope was a meant as a joke.
The notation said that if anyone other than Elisco opened the letter, they would be infected with anthrax, but Elisco would be spared. Elisco could not be reached to comment.