Published January 17. 2017 11:00PM
Various local and national media outlets have reported former professional wrestler Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka died Sunday in Florida. He was 73.
Snuka was reportedly battling both stomach cancer and dementia.
Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas Judge Kelly Banach Jan. 3 dismissed a case against Snuka, declaring him incompetent to stand trial in the May 1983 death of his then-23-year-old girlfriend Nancy Argentino, of Brooklyn, N.Y., in a Whitehall Township motel.
On Sept. 1, 2016, Snuka, of Camden County, N.J., was officially charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Argentino,
According to Banach’s Jan. 3 order, the court made its decision after the Dec. 2, 2016, competency hearing and its review of additional medical records provided to counsel.
The order said, “The court is satisfied that the defendant remains incompetent and the court is satisfied that the defendant will not regain competency and that it would be unjust to resume prosecution.”
Snuka’s defense team argued the former professional wrestler developed dementia due to countless blows to the head sustained during his former professional wrestling career.
Snuka’s response to an Aug. 2, 2016, filing by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania said Snuka’s dementia would likely not improve in the future and only get worse.
“There is no cure for dementia,” the filing said. “The defendant has not responded to an exhaustive list of medications in the past, and the possibility the defendant will regain competency because of inpatient confinement, outpatient therapy or a combination of the two is ludicrous.”