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Darien Houser Pennsylvania Death Row

Darien Houser was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of a warrant officer. According to court documents Darien Houser would get into a shootout with three warrant officers who were attempting to arrest him killing one of them. Darien Houser would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Darien Houser 2022 Information

Parole Number: 5169U
Age: 58
Date of Birth: 03/22/1963
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 5′ 09″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Darien Houser More News

Hours after Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced a moratorium on the death penalty, the widow of a Philadelphia warrant officer told Eyewitness News she is devastated.

“When I heard it on the news, I went off the handle. I started crying,” Gretchen LeClair said.

LeClaire’s husband, Joseph, was shot and killed on March 19, 2004 when he was serving a warrant to Darien Houser. Police say Houser opened fire on LeClaire and two other officers. The two survived, but LeClaire died just a few hours later.

“He was such a good man. He didn’t deserve to get killed,” LeClaire said.

Sergeant Joseph LeClaire served three tours in Vietnam, and spent 9 years with the First Judicial District Warrant District.

“I can’t get my life on. I can’t move forward,” she told Eyewitness News.

Darien Houser is on death row, and now his fate hangs in the balance because of the Wolf moratorium.

“I will never get peace. The only time I will get peace is if the guy is executed,” she said.

Wolfe’s office released the following statement from the Governor on Friday:

“Today’s action comes after significant consideration and reflection,” said Governor Wolf. “This moratorium is in no way an expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row, all of whom have been convicted of committing heinous crimes. This decision is based on a flawed system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust, and expensive. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 150 people have been exonerated from death row nationwide, including six men in Pennsylvania. Recognizing the seriousness of these concerns, the Senate established the bipartisan Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Commission to conduct a study of the effectiveness of capital punishment in Pennsylvania. Today’s moratorium will remain in effect until this commission has produced its recommendation and all concerns are addressed satisfactorily.”

To read more about the moratorium, click here.

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/02/13/widow-of-warrant-officer-speaks-out-about-death-penalty-moratorium/

Thomas Hawkins Pennsylvania Death Row

Thomas Hawkins was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the sexual assault and murder of his fourteen year old niece. According to court documents Thomas Hawkins would sexually assault his fourteen year old niece before murdering the teenage girl using a phone cord and stabbing her. Thomas Hawkins would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Thomas Hawkins 2022 Information

Parole Number: 5403P
Age: 58
Date of Birth: 12/31/1963
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 5′ 09″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Thomas Hawkins More News

At approximately 5:00 p.m., on June 4, 1989, the body of fourteen-year-old Andrea Nicole Thomas, who had been strangled to death, was found on her bed on the second floor of her home at 455 Old Reading Pike, Stowe, Pennsylvania. The victim’s aunt, Cherisse Hawkins, returned to the home in the late afternoon to discover the body. She also found the front door unlocked and partially ajar and the living room in disarray. The victim’s dress and bloody underpants were found on the downstair’s living room floor along with various blood and fecal stains. Additionally, there was a plastic garbage bag, like a burglar might use to carry away booty, found in the living room on which Appellant’s fingerprints and no others were found. The victim’s body was found in her bed upstairs, nude except for a bra pulled up above her breasts. Her body was covered with a blanket, and a pillow covered her face. There were puncture wounds in her back and a two-pronged fork with bent tines was also found.

*126 Examination of the body by a forensic pathologist revealed vaginal bruises, scrapes and tears consistent with sexual penetration. The victim was strangled to death by ligature (a telephone and extension wire), and her back bore the stab wounds.

Thomas Hawkins, the uncle of the deceased, was one of the relatives summoned to the scene of the crime by the family. He arrived at what was also his parent’s house that evening (June 4) and gave a statement admitting that he had gone to the house that same morning around 9:00 a.m., had climbed through the window, had seen his niece, Andrea, had played and wrestled with her and had left at 9:45 a.m. after failing to find the keys to his father’s car.

Linking Thomas Hawkins to the crime was the fact that fiber similar to the sewing thread of Appellant’s pants was later found on the dress the victim had been wearing. The time of the victim’s death was also estimated to have been between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon, a time during which Appellant admitted to having been at the house.

On September 21, 1989, while executing a search warrant at Thomas Hawkins’s home in Philadelphia on an unrelated matter, the police observed detective magazines in plain view in Appellant’s bedroom. Several of the magazine articles involving murders of women were highlighted; some had pages folded, and others were just marked. These magazines were introduced at Appellant’s trial. Two inmates who were incarcerated with Thomas Hawkins testified at trial that Appellant had made incriminating statements to them. Finally the circumstances of the victim’s death were compared at trial with those of the murder for which Appellant pled guilty in 1981, revealing some similarities.

On August 14, 1990, the jury found Thomas Hawkins guilty of first degree murder. Later that same day, after the penalty phase of the trial, the jury determined that Appellant’s sentence should be death. The jury determined that one mitigating circumstance the general “demeanor” of Appellant “in everyday *127 life,” was outweighed by one aggravating circumstance the prior murder conviction.

https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1993/534-pa-123-1.html

Richard Hackett Pennsylvania Death Row

Richard Hackett was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for a conspiracy for murder. According to court documents Richard Hackett conspired with other to kill Gregory Ogrod however when the murder took place it was Ogrod sixteen year old girlfriend Maureen Dunne would die. Richard Hackett would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Richard Hackett 2022 Information

Parole Number: 0226V
Age: 57
Date of Birth: 08/08/1964
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 11″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: LIGHT
Current Location: PHOENIX

Richard Hackett More News

The Commonwealth charged Richard Hackett with first-degree murder, conspiracy, and related offenses and notified him of its intent to seek the death penalty in connection with the 1986 death of sixteen-year old Maureen Dunne, who was brutally stabbed while she lay sleeping in bed with her boyfriend, Gregory Ogrod.³ At Appellee’s 1988 trial, the Commonwealth presented evidence that Richard Hackett orchestrated a conspiracy to kill the victims with Marvin Spence, James Gray, and Keith Barrett. In the early morning hours of July 31, 1986, three men entered Ogrod’s home and repeatedly stabbed the couple and clubbed them with crowbars. Despite this unforeseen attack, Ogrod got up and fought off his assailants. Nevertheless, Dunne died from a stab wound to the heart. As the perpetrators fled, Ogrod recognized Spence as one of his attackers. Appellee, who lived in Ogrod’s home, knew Ogrod and Dunne were sleeping in the basement and was the only person, aside from Ogrod and his brother, who had a key to the home.

Although evidence showed Richard Hackett and Spence directed the conspiracy, the men wanted Ogrod killed for different reasons. Appellee’s aversion towards Ogrod developed in the spring of 1986 after Ogrod’s brother invited Appellee to live in the home he and Ogrod shared. Even though Appellee managed to live there rent free and stored equipment for his landscaping and snow removal business in Ogrod’s garage, Appellee did not get along with Ogrod. When Ogrod asked Appellee to move out in July 1986, Appellee threatened to throw Ogrod out of his own home if he did not “cool out.” Several days later, Appellee moved all of Ogrod’s belongings from his bedroom to the basement without his permission. In contrast, Spence wanted Ogrod killed as a result of a drug-related dispute. Once Appellee and Spence discovered their shared hatred for Ogrod, they worked together to bring their plan to have Ogrod killed to fruition.

Richard Hackett initially sought to hire an assassin to murder Ogrod. Appellee first contacted Edgar Torres to find a hitman “to bump someone off for money.” When Torres asserted this task would cost him considerable money, Appellee assured Torres he would pay. Appellee subsequently gave Torres photographs of the victims and met with alleged assassins. Eventually, Torres told Appellee he could not find an individual for the job and refused to participate in Appellee’s plan. Appellee and Spence offered another potential hitman named David Carter $5,000 to kill Ogrod and Dunne. While Carter initially agreed to this plan, Appellee and Spence’s contract with Carter fell through as the men could not agree on the manner in which Carter would kill the victims.

At trial, several witnesses connected Richard Hackett to the attack on Ogrod and Dunne, which occurred at 4:00 a.m. on July 31, 1986. Jeffrey Horoschak stated that when he called Ogrod’s home at 1:45 a .m. that morning, Appellee told him Ogrod was asleep. Edward May testified that at 3:30 a.m., he gave a ride to Spence, Barrett, and Gray to a location near Ogrod’s home, where the men met with a fourth individual who resembled Appellee and drove a truck similar to the one Appellee owned. Appellee’s girlfriend, Wendy Rosenblum, testified that, at 5:00 a.m., Appellee called to tell her Ogrod was dead and came to her apartment through the basement, visibly shaking and sweating.

Appellee’s subsequent conduct suggested he had facilitated the attack. Rosenblum claimed Appellee asked her to tell police he had been at her apartment all night and ordered her to obtain and destroy the photographs of the victims he had given to Torres to identify the individuals he wanted killed. Rosenblum stated that, a week after the murders occurred, she saw Appellee take a crowbar out of the basement of her apartment, conceal it in his pants, and throw it in a nearby dumpster.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-supreme-court/1676139.html

Francis Harris Pennsylvania Death Row

Francis Harris was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of a man in order to prevent him from testifying. According to court documents Francis Harris girlfriend lured the victim to a restaurant where he would be attacked by Harris who would ultimately slit his throat with a hunting knife. Francis Harris would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Francis Harris 2022 Information

Parole Number: DL0556
Age: 54
Date of Birth: 02/11/1967
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 6′ 04″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: LIGHT
Current Location: PHOENIX

Francis Harris More News

Francis B. Harris, 37, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 13.

He was convicted in 1997 of killing Daryl Martin, 22, of Lancaster, to prevent Martin from testifying in an assault case.

“This was a premeditated and extremely brutal murder,” said Lancaster County District Attorney Donald Totaro.

“There are not too many cases where a jury comes back with a sentence of death, and this is one of the few we’ve seen in Lancaster County.”

The state Supreme Court turned down Harris’ appeal in November 2002, and late last year the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.

According to testimony during Harris’ trial, his girlfriend, Kimberly Kistler, telephoned Martin on Nov. 3, 1996, at the request of Harris.

Kistler arranged to meet Martin at the Tobias S. Frogg restaurant, 1766 Columbia Ave.

Harris and Kistler went to the restaurant, waited for Martin and watched as Martin went inside. Harris then slashed a tire on Martin’s car.

When Martin left the restaurant, he pulled into the parking lot of the former Dunkin Donuts next to Tobias S. Frogg to fix the flat.

Harris ambushed and overpowered Martin, cutting his throat with a hunting knife.

About 10 days after the murder, Harris was in Lancaster County Court to plead guilty to assaulting Martin during an altercation outside a Lancaster nightclub in August 1995.

Martin was supposed to testify against Harris in the case.

Kistler eventually told police of her involvement in Martin’s killing and testified against Harris at his trial.

For her role in the killing, Kistler, 32, was convicted of third-degree murder in 1998 and sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.

Harris is one of five men on Pennsylvania’s death row after being convicted of killings in Lancaster County. The others are Orlando Baez, Robert Zook, Kevin Dowling and Landon May.

Rendell has signed 15 execution warrants since taking office last year.

Since 1995, 282 execution warrants have been signed, and 229 people are currently on death row. Three executions have been carried out over the past nine years, the most recent in July 1999.

Despite Harris’ May 13 execution date, Totaro said the signing of a death warrant typically triggers a “lengthy” appeal process. He said he does not expect the execution to be carried out as scheduled.

Totaro said his office planned to contact members of Martin’s family Monday to notify them of the signing of Harris’ death warrant. He was not certain Monday night if contact had been made.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/witness-killer-gets-date-for-execution/article_8a7ae1b1-05ec-5563-85e2-13a43db60e43.html

Sheldon Hannibal Pennsylvania Death Row

Sheldon Hannibal was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for a murder . According to court documents Sheldon Hannibal was involved in an argument with the victim over a gold chain when Hannibal would pistol whip the victim and executed him. Sheldon Hannibal would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Sheldon Hannibal 2022 Information

Parole Number: CG5771
Age: 49
Date of Birth: 01/08/1972
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 6′ 00″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: UNKNOWN
Complexion: DARK
Current Location: PHOENIX

Sheldon Hannibal More News

The facts pertinent to the current appeal are that on October 25, 1992, appellant and codefendant, Larry Gregory, following an argument with the victim, Peter LaCourt, about the authenticity of a gold chain, took the chain and pistol-whipped LaCourt. LaCourt attempted to flee but stopped when appellant threatened to shoot him. LaCourt dropped to his knees, put his hands behind his head and appellant shot him six times, killing him. Fifteen-year-old Tanesha Robinson witnessed the robbery and beating, heard the gunshots as she fled the scene, and later gave a statement to police implicating appellant and codefendant. She also testified at their preliminary hearings. On August 4, 1993, however, she and two of her female friends were murdered execution-style (via close-range gunshots to the head) in an apartment located in the same housing development where LaCourt was murdered.

Appellant and codefendant were charged with the murder of LaCourt and were tried together. At trial, two witnesses testified concerning a plot to murder Robinson to prevent her from testifying at trial. Terrence Richardson testified he was present when codefendant and his brother gave two other men a .357 revolver and paid them $2,000 to kill Robinson, directing them to “be fast about it” and “don’t leave [any] witnesses.” N.T. 3/3/94 at 73. James Buigi testified he shared a prison cell with appellant in the fall of 1993 and appellant confided to him he shot and killed LaCourt during a robbery. Appellant additionally confided to Buigi he told “his friends” he needed Robinson “out of the way” because she was “the only witness that can hurt me in the trial.” N.T. 2/28/94 at 122. Appellant told Buigi “my boys are loyal to me. They took care of that for me.” Id. Appellant explained to Buigi his boys “found [Robinson] and shot her,” and they killed the other females in the apartment because “they [were] not going to leave two witnesses behind [.]” Id. at 123.

Appellant testified at trial he did not know LaCourt or remember where he was on the night LaCourt was murdered; he did not have an altercation with LaCourt; he did not take a chain from him; he did not own a gun or shoot LaCourt; he never shared a cell with Buigi and never discussed anything with him. Appellant also presented three character witnesses who testified to his reputation as a peaceful, law-abiding citizen. The witnesses were cross-examined regarding their knowledge of appellant’s criminal record.

The jury convicted appellant and codefendant of first-degree murder.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/pa-supreme-court/1755196.html