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George Hitcho Pennsylvania Death Row

George Hitcho was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Freemansburg police officer Robert A. Lasso. According to court documents George Hitcho would shoot and kill the Officer who had arrived at Hitcho door regarding a dispute with his neighbor. George Hitcho would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

George Hitcho 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
GEORGE HITCHO JR	Commit Name
GEORGE HITCHO JR	True Name

Parole Number: KN8474
Age: 55
Date of Birth: 06/20/1965
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 10″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: LIGHT
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: NORTHAMPTON

George Hitcho More News

George Hitcho will get a new attorney for the appeal of his death sentence for the murder of a Freemansburg police officer, but not necessarily for the reason he gave.

In court papers dated Dec. 20 but filed today in Northampton County Court, the 48-year-old inmate at the State Correctional Institute at Greene said Northampton County Chief Public Defender Michael Corriere has been ineffective, both at his trial in May 2012 and during his appeal.

Corriere, Hitcho wrote, has been difficult to reach and has not provided him with information about their legal strategy or the nuances of his case. As a result, he asked that Corriere be removed from his case, according to the documents.

But Corriere said he was already preparing to remove himself from the case. The Bethlehem attorney is expecting to be replaced Monday as chief public defender when Northampton County Executive-elect John Brown is sworn into office. Brown has already announced his intention to nominate Robert Sletvold to the position.

With his time in office dwindling, Corriere said he has already started arranging for Assistant Public Defender Dwight Danser to take over Hitcho’s appeal. The county court system is preparing all the documents and transcripts so the Pennsylvania Supreme Court can review the matter, Corriere said.

He anticipated that process will take until March.

It is not uncommon for death penalty inmates to request a change of lawyers during the appeal process, but it usually happens after the Supreme Court reviews the case, Corriere said. Hitcho did not voice any complaints about his defense during his trial.

A Northampton County jury convicted Hitcho of first-degree murder for the death of police officer Robert Lasso in August 2011. The 31-year-old father of two knocked on Hitcho’s door about a dispute between Hitcho and a neighbor, but Hitcho’s two dogs aggressively approached him, according to testimony.

When Lasso pulled out a stun gun to protect himself, Hitcho fired a shotgun through his door, striking Lasso in the head. Lasso died almost instantly, according to expert witnesses.

Jakeem Towles Pennsylvania Death Row

Jakeem Towles was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Cornell Stewart. According to court documents Jakeem Towles would fatally shoot Cornell Stewart after he was done performing at a rap concert. Jakeem Towles would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Jakeem Towles 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
TYRONE HUNTER	Also Known As
JAKEEM TOWELS	Also Known As
JAKEEM TOWELS	Also Known As
JAKEEM LYDELL TOWELS	Also Known As
JAKEEM LYDELL TOWLES	Commit Name

Parole Number: KP2038
Age: 31
Date of Birth: 08/08/1989
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 5′ 11″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: LANCASTER
Last Updated Time: 4/20/2021 4:00:19 AM

Jakeem Towles More News

A Lancaster County judge has denied a new trial for a man convicted of killing a hip-hop artist after a 2010 show in Columbia.

Jakeem Towles, 29, claimed his “ineffective” lawyers caused his first-degree murder conviction and death sentence in the killing of 20-year-old Cornell “Young E-Z” Stewart.

Towles was ejected from a club on North Fourth Street for causing a fight. Prosecutors said he came back with a gun and shot Stewart in the head when he fired on a group of people outside the show.

Among the arguments in his request for relief, Towles claimed he should have been allowed to testify at his trial.

Judge Howard Knisely rejected that claim and others. He said Towles could have testified, but it’s likely he would not have been found credible.

https://www.abc27.com/news/local/lancaster/man-sentenced-to-death-for-killing-rapper-denied-new-trial/

Timothy Jacoby Pennsylvania Death Row

Timothy Jacoby was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Monica Schmeyer. According to court documents Timothy Jacoby would break into the home of Monica Schmeyer and would murder the woman before robbing the home. Timothy Jacoby had been a friend of Monica Schmeyer ex husband. Timothy Jacoby would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Timothy Jacoby 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
TIM JACOBY	Also Known As
TIMOTHY JACOBY	Also Known As
TIMOTHY M JACOBY	Commit Name
TIMOTHY MATTHEW JACOBY	Also Known As
TIM TIM	Also Known As

Parole Number: KT5358
Age: 48
Date of Birth: 02/13/1973
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 08″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: YORK

Timothy Jacoby More News

Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel has signed a notice of execution for Timothy Jacoby, a man who fatally shot his friend’s ex-wife when he burglarized her home in York County.

Wetzel signed the notice on Monday, which set the date of the execution for March 8, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. But it’s unlikely that will happen.

In an interview, Jeff Marshall, Jacoby’s attorney, said he’s going to file a motion to stay the execution. He said his client has filed a post-conviction relief act petition — and, under the law, the death penalty can’t be carried out while that or any resulting appeals are pending.

Gov. Tom Wolf has also placed a moratorium on executions, describing the system for capital punishment as “riddled with flaws, making it error prone, expensive, and anything but infallible.” In Pennsylvania, no one has been put to death since 1999.

In 2014, Jacoby, 45, of West Manchester Township, was found guilty of first-degree murder and related offenses and sentenced to death. He killed Monica Schmeyer, 55, of West Manheim Township, on March 31, 2010.

Jacoby was a member of an informal group that met at a Hooters on Route 30 called the Orange Shorts Society. It was named after the color of the shorts that the waitresses wore at the restaurant.

Schmeyer’s ex-husband, Jon, was part of the group. He talked about his divorce and noted that he paid her $1,700 in alimony each month in cash. She had a habit of keeping money in white envelopes throughout her home

On the day of the murder, Jacoby didn’t show up for a meeting of the Orange Shorts Society. Law enforcement conducted a years-long investigation and charged him in the killing.

Jacoby is being held at the State Correctional Institution at Greene.

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/crime/2019/02/06/pennsylvania-corrections-secretary-execution-notice-timothy-jacoby-death-row-murder-monica-schmeyer/2784826002/

Christopher Johnson Pennsylvania Death Row

Christopher Johnson was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Game Commission Officer David Grove. According to court documents Christopher Johnson would open fire on the Game Commission Officer David Grove as he approached his vehicle regarding poaching a deer, Grove would die from his injuries. Christopher Johnson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Christopher Johnson 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
CHRISTOPHER JOHNSON	Also Known As
CHRISTOPHER L JOHNSON	Also Known As
CHRISTOPHER LYNN JOHNSON	Commit Name

Parole Number: KT5466
Age: 37
Date of Birth: 05/19/1983
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 6′ 01″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: ADAMS

Christopher Johnson More News

The federal appeal of an Adams County man sentenced to death for killing a state game officer in 2010 has been stayed pending the outcome of proceedings in state court.

U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann Thursday granted the stay to allow Christopher Johnson of Fairfield to exhaust his Post Conviction Relief Act appeal in state court.

Johnson is appealing his first-degree murder conviction for killing Game Commission Officer David Grove, 31, during an exchange of gunfire on a rural road near Gettysburg on Nov. 11, 2010.

State appellate courts have upheld the verdict of a jury imported from Lancaster County due to pre-trial publicity in Adams County.

Grove was killed after he stopped a pickup truck on the suspicion the occupants had poached a deer.

Arrest documents state Johnson dropped the keys to the vehicle when ordered but then shot Grove with a pistol as the officer tried to handcuff him.

Police found 25 casings and determined 15 of them came from Johnson’s pistol, which meant he had reloaded it during the exchange of gunfire.

Johnson, who was wounded, was arrested after getting a ride to a hunting camp.

The defense argued during the trial Johnson was too drunk from drinking beer to form an intent to kill.

Johnson’s federal court appeal includes numerous allegations of ineffective counsel and constitutional issues.

It contends trial counsel failed to call experts who could have testified about Johnson’s mental state at the time of the incident due to being abused as a child, a bipolar disorder and previous incarceration.

Failure to object to having a jury from Lancaster County was another mistake because residents there have access to the same television news as those in Adams County, the appeal states.

Johnson claims the prosecution withheld evidence of a deal it made with a star witness that resulted in him receiving a favorable outcome to a deer poaching charge.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/05/post_180.html

Ricky Smyrnes Pennsylvania Death Row

Ricky Smyrnes and Melvin Knight would be sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the torture murder of Jennifer Daugherty. According to court documents Jennifer Daugherty was tortured before she was murdered and dumped in a garbage can. Ricky Smyrnes and Melvin Knight would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Ricky Smyrnes 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
RICKY VEN SMYRENES	Also Known As
RICKY SMYRNES	Commit Name
RICKY SMYRNES	Also Known As
RICKY VEN EDWARD SMYRNES	Also Known As

Parole Number: KX9435
Age: 35
Date of Birth: 03/06/1986
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 09″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: FAIR
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: WESTMORELAND

Melvin Knight 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
MELVIN KNIGHT	Commit Name
MELVIN L KNIGHT	Also Known As

Parole Number: KR9608
Age: 31
Date of Birth: 10/27/1989
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 0′ 00″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion:
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: WESTMORELAND

Ricky Smyrnes More News

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the first-degree murder conviction and death penalty imposed against an Irwin man authorities said was the ringleader of a group that tortured and killed a mentally disabled woman.

In a 34-page opinion, justices found there was enough evidence to convict Ricky Smyrnes and for the jury to sentence him to death.

Smyrnes, 30, was convicted after a three week trial in 2013 duing which prosecutors said he led a group of six Greensburg roommates in holding 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty captive for nearly three days. The group systematically tortured Daugherty, then stabbed her to death, prosecutors said.

Daugherty’s body was discovered wrapped in Christmas lights and stuffed into a trash can left in a snow-covered parking lot.

An appeals court rejected a series of arguments from Smyrnes in which he claimed Common Pleas Judge Rita Hathaway improperly allowed evidence at trial and that jurors did not correctly weigh evidence during the penalty phase.

“After reviewing the record we are persuaded that the sentence imposed upon appellant was not the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor but rather resulted from the evidence that appellant deliberately and maliciously participated in the torture and murder of Ms. Daugherty,” Chief Justice Thomas Saylor wrote.

Defense attorney Brian Aston declined to comment about the ruling.

The death sentence against codefendant Melvin Knight was overturned last year by the state Supreme Court, which ordered he receive a new penalty phase of trial.

Knight pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors said he repeatedly stabbed Daugherty at the urging of Smyrnes.

All six of the roommates were convicted for involvement in the Daugherty murder.

Angela Marinucci, now 24, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence. Amber Meidinger, 27, who testified against her codefendants, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of third-degree murder and is serving a maximum of 80 years in prison. Robert Masters, 43, and Peggy Miller, 34, also pleaded guilty to charges of third-degree murder. Masters is serving up to 70 years in prison, and Miller was sentenced to spend up to 75 years.

In the case against Smyrnes, the prosecution said he convened several “family meetings” during which the roommates decided to kill Daugherty after they had held her captive, beat and tortured her by forcing the woman to drink concoctions of bodily fluids, cleaning supplies and spices.

Although his death penalty was upheld, his execution is not likely to occur anytime soon. Just three people in Pennsylvania have been sentenced to death since capital punishment was reinstated in the late 1970s, and Gov. Tom Wolf has instituted a moratorium on signing death warrants during a review of capital punishment.