Schuylkill County commissioners on Wednesday approved $20,000 for the public defender's office to hire a consultant for a death penalty mitigation defense in a 24-year-old murder case.

Schuylkill County Chief Public Defender Michael J. Stine asked for the approval to pay for a contract with Louise Luck as the county prepares for a new trial to determine whether Daniel M. Saranchak, who pleaded guilty in 1993 of shooting to death his uncle and grandmother, should get life in prison or be executed.Saranchak has been housed since 2005 in the state prison in Greene County.Commissioners' Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. asked Stine how much he thought the total bill might come to.Stine demurred, saying it depended on how much time is needed. However, commissioners would have to approve any money spent beyond the retainer.Saranchak's appeals have wended their way through Pennsylvania's courts for years.Saranchak, now 49, was sentenced to be executed for the Oct. 15, 1993, robbery and murder of his uncle, Edmund Saranchak, 57, and his grandmother, Stella Saranchock, 78.Saranchak shot his uncle between the eyes as he sat on a couch in the home they lived in just outside of Cumbola, then went upstairs and shot his ailing grandmother in the forehead.Saranchak told police he needed the $355 he stole because he needed to be able to keep drinking with a friend.A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Sept. 14, 2015 vacated Saranchak's death sentence for failure to introduce his mental health history for mitigation purposes.According to trial testimony, Saranchak wandered around the murdered pair's house eating candy and raiding the refrigerator before leaving.Saranchak also told a state police investigator the next day that he had been on a mission that was "classified."A state trooper testified that Saranchak, who attended court hearings clad in military-style camouflage clothing and a black beret, spoke to police as if they were drill instructors, standing at attention and saying, "It was not a pretty sight, sir."Stine on Wednesday said a Philadelphia group, the Federal Defenders, "were unsuccessful in getting Mr. Saranchak a new trial as far as guilt or innocence goes. However, they were successful in getting him a new trial on the penalty phase."The jury has just two options in that phase, Stine said: Life in prison or the death penalty.District Attorney Christine A. Holman has filed her intentions of again pursuing the death penalty, he said.Public defender Jeffrey M. Markosky has been assigned to the case, Stine said.Markosky had difficulty finding a mitigation specialist because the case is so old, he said.