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Kevin Murphy Pennsylvania Death Row

Kevin Murphy was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murders of Doris Murphy, 69; Kris Murphy, 43; and Edith Tietge, 81, at Ferguson Glass. According to court documents Kevin Murphy was upset that his family would not support him in a relationship with a married woman so he would shoot and kill his mother, sister and aunt at his business. Kevin Murphy would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Kevin Murphy 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
KEVIN MURPHY	Commit Name
KEVIN LEE MURPHY	True Name

Parole Number: LA4324
Age: 60
Date of Birth: 12/11/1960
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 10″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: WESTMORELAND

Kevin Murphy More News

State Corrections Secretary John Wetzel signed a notice of execution Wednesday for an Indiana County man convicted in 2013 of first-degree murder for shooting his mother, sister and aunt just months after the state Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

However, the death warrant setting Kevin Murphy’s execution for Dec. 19 was immediately stayed, allowing the 55-year-old a chance to appeal, according to Department of Corrections documents.

A Westmoreland County jury convicted him of shooting Doris Murphy, 69; Kris Murphy, 43; and Edith Tietge, 81, at Ferguson Glass in Loyalhanna Township on April 23, 2009. The three women worked at the family business, which Kevin Murphy owned.

Murphy used a .22-caliber revolver to shoot the women in the head because they disapproved of his romantic relationship with a married woman and didn’t want her to live at the family home near Saltsburg, police said.

The jury imposed the death penalty for Doris Murphy’s killing and imposed life sentences in the deaths of Kris Murphy and Tietge. The state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in March.

According to the corrections department, once the state Supreme Court affirms a death sentence on direct appeal, the case is sent to the governor’s office along with the trial record, including transcripts of the sentencing hearing, imposition of the sentence and the court’s opinion.

If the governor does not issue an execution warrant within 90 days of receiving the record, the secretary of corrections must issue a notice of execution under the death penalty statute.

“This is what happened in the Murphy case and others during the Gov. (Tom) Wolf administration,” said Amy Worden, press secretary for the corrections department.

After the warrant is issued, the execution is stayed to permit the defendant to file a collateral challenge to the death sentence in state court under the Post Conviction Relief Act, the Department of Corrections reported.

If that petition is denied by the lower court and the state Supreme Court affirms that denial, the stay of execution is lifted.

The governor is then required by law to reissue the warrant within 30 days of the state office of general counsel receiving notice that the court’s action has lifted the stay. When the next warrant is issued, the execution is stayed, usually by a federal court, to allow the defendant to challenge the death sentence in federal court, and the process repeats itself, the corrections office reported.

In previous appeals, Murphy has argued prosecutors failed to prove he was the killer and the verdicts were against the weight of the evidence.

In a 14-page ruling last spring, five Supreme Court justices disagreed.

“Viewed in its totality, we find the Commonwealth presented sufficient evidence to enable a reasonable jury to find all elements of the crimes of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt,” they said in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Thomas Saylor.

Jurors imposed the death penalty based on evidence Murphy “deliberately and maliciously” killed his relatives, according to the opinion, and prosecutors “plainly established … aggravating circumstances found by the jury, given the multiple killings involved.”

Justices Max Baer, Debra Todd, Christine Donohue and Kevin M. Dougherty joined in the opinion. Justice David N. Wecht did not participate in the proceedings.

Gary Heidnik was the last person to be executed in Pennsylvania — in 1999 — for murdering two women he had imprisoned and tortured in the basement of his Philadelphia home.

Murphy is incarcerated at SCI Greene in Waynesburg.

Aric Woodard Pennsylvania Death Row

Aric Woodard was sentenced to death by the State of Texas for the murder of 2-year-old Jaques Omari Twinn. According to court documents Aric Woodard was babysitting Jaques Omari Twinn when he beat the little boy to death. Aric Woodard was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Aric Woodard 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
ARIC SHAYNE WOODARD	Commit Name
ARIC SHAYNE WOODARD	Also Known As
ARIC WOODARED	Also Known As
SHANE WOODYARD	True Name

Parole Number: LH5922
Age: 48
Date of Birth: 03/18/1973
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 6′ 05″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: YORK

Aric Woodard More News

A York murderer’s execution, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been stayed, according to online court records.

Aric Shayne Woodard, 43, formerly of West Jackson Street, was sentenced to death after being found guilty in 2013 of first-degree murder for fatally beating 2-year-old Jaques Omari Twinn on Nov. 7, 2011, while baby-sitting the boy and the boy’s little sister.

Jaques was the son of Hayley Twinn, of York, and Tyrone Kemp, of Baltimore.

Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel signed a notice of execution for Woodard in January, setting March 4 as the execution date .

However, online court records show Woodard filed a motion to stay the execution on Feb. 6. That motion was granted by Common Pleas Judge Michael E. Bortner on Feb. 9, according to court records.

Additionally, on Feb. 13, Bortner granted a motion for an appointment of legal counsel for Woodard.

Pennsylvania’s death penalty: Shortly after taking office in 2015, Gov. Tom Wolf began issuing reprieves to condemned inmates, citing concerns about flaws in Pennsylvania’s capital-punishment system.

He has said the moratorium will remain in effect at least until he receives a report from a legislative commission that has been studying the topic for about five years, according to The Associated Press.

The last execution in Pennsylvania was in 1999.

Notice of execution signed for York murderer

The background: According to Woodard’s charging documents, police were called to a home in the 100 block of West Maple Street about 2:25 p.m. Nov. 7, 2011, for a child in cardiac arrest.

Jaques was rushed to York Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:05 p.m.

York City Detective Al Clarkson said at the time that Woodard left the children alone to go to a nearby store and that when he returned, he assaulted the child after realizing Jaques had smeared feces on the kitchen carpet.

Woodard had feelings for the children’s mother, but she did not reciprocate, according to Clarkson

“(Woodard) became frustrated that day,” the detective has said. “He knew she was out with somebody else, and he realized she was using him to watch her kids while she was out with another guy.”

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/2017/03/04/execution-stayed-york-murderer/98736670/

Patrick Haney Pennsylvania Death Row

Patrick Haney was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of 4-year-old Trenton St. Clair. According to court documents Patrick Haney would beat to death four year old Trenton St. Clair his girlfriends son. The child’s mother Heather Forsythe was charged with allowing the child abuse to happen. Patrick Haney would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Patrick Haney 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
PATRICK RAY HANEY	Commit Name

Parole Number: LL7968
Age: 37
Date of Birth: 04/02/1984
Race/Ethnicity: WHITE
Height: 5′ 08″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: OLIVE
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: FAYETTE

Patrick Haney More News

Jurors have found Patrick Haney Jr. guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son.

Haney, of Point Marion, Fayette County, could face the death penalty in the death of 4-year-old Trenton St. Clair, the child of his former girlfriend, Heather Forsythe. He was also convicted of endangering the welfare of children.

“I couldn’t be happier. It’s been too long. Trenton is finally going to lay in rest. No more doubt in his mind that the guy that did this is punished now. The truth is out,” the boy’s paternal grandmother, Sharon Smitley, said.

During closing arguments Tuesday, just 26 hours after the trial opened, prosecutors passed around autopsy photos to jurors. They depicted St. Clair’s bruised body on the autopsy table. “I did get a glimpse of the pictures. That was so bad. Really upsetting,” said Smitley.

Smitley’s son Joseph St. Clair is Trenton’s father. He is currently living in Georgia with his girlfriend and their child.

The boy’s tearful mother was the first witness to take the stand Monday against Haney.

Forsythe struck a plea deal to lesser charges last week in return for her testimony. She told the jury she saw Haney beating her son, leaving bruises all over him, but said she didn’t speak out because she feared Haney. Under her agreement to plead guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, Forsythe could get a sentence ranging from two and a half to five years.

Prosecutors maintain the beating was systematic and went on for weeks inside the couple’s home.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper James Pierce testified that during questioning, Haney at first claimed the boy was clumsy and had fallen down steps, fallen from a desk and fallen from a park draw bridge.

Pierce testified that when Haney was confronted with the mother’s claims and with word that doctors reported the child was a victim of abuse, Haney dropped his head and appeared to cry. The trooper testified that Haney then admitted to hitting the child because “he wouldn’t listen sometimes.” Pierce said Haney told him he was trying to discipline the boy, not hurt him.

When testimony resumes Tuesday on the second day of the trial, a doctor who treated St. Clair in the emergency room of Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., will testify.

The child died on Sept. 13, 2011.

The same jury will return to Judge Nancy Vernon’s court Wednesday morning when the sentencing phase opens. Jurors will then hear more testimony and closing arguments before deliberating if Haney should be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.

https://www.wtae.com/article/jury-delivers-guilty-verdict-in-fayette-county-death-penalty-trial-1/7465327#

Raghunandan Yandamuri Pennsylvania Death Row

Raghunandan Yandamuri was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murders of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna. According to court documents Raghunandan Yandamuri would fatally stab Satyavathi Vennabefore kidnapping Saanvi Venna which he would demand $50,000 from the family. Yandamuri would put the infant in a suitcase where she would suffocate. Raghunandan Yandamuri would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Raghunandan Yandamuri 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
RAGHU YANDAMURI	Also Known As
RAGHUNADAN YANDAMURI	Also Known As
RAGHUNANDAN YANDAMURI	Commit Name
RAGHUNANDAN YANDAMURI	Also Known As

Parole Number: LU3857
Age: 35
Date of Birth: 02/21/1986
Race/Ethnicity: OTHER
Height: 5′ 10″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: INDIA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: MONTGOMERY

Raghunandan Yandamuri More News

Raghunandan Yandamuri, the first Indian American on death row, was not put to death by lethal injection on Feb. 23, his scheduled execution date, as the state of Pennsylvania has a moratorium on the death penalty since 2015.

Pennsylvania District Court Judge Petrese Tucker issued a stay of execution for Yandamuri Jan. 16, based on a request by the killer, who – during court proceedings – told a judge he wanted to die for the crimes he had committed, and asked that the death sentence be imposed upon him. He received two death sentences, which he later appealed but lost last April.

Amy Worden, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, told India-West that another warrant would have to be signed for the execution to proceed. “For now he remains on the capital case unit,” she said.

The Pennsylvania Board of Pardons would have to determine if Yandamuri’s death sentence can be commuted to a life sentence, said Worden.

Sue McNaughton, communications director, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, told PTI in January that the likelihood of Yandamuri being executed is slim. She noted that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has said he would issue a reprieve if a court did not grant the stay.

Pennsylvania has not carried out any executions in the past 20 years. Yandamuri is incarcerated at the Greene State Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

In 2014, Yandamuri was sentenced to die by lethal injection for murdering 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother, Satyavathi Venna. A jury deliberated for just three hours before declaring Yandamuri guilty (see India-West story here: http://bit.ly/2DhvWch).

After he was arrested in 2012, the killer provided a chilling account of how he entered the Vennas’ apartment while Saanvi’s parents, Venkata and Latha, were at work. He fatally stabbed Satyavathi – who was attempting to protect her granddaughter – before kidnapping the baby, which he hoped to use to obtain $50,000 in ransom from her parents.

Yandamuri and his wife Komali were friends with the Vennas and lived in the same apartment building in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

After kidnapping Saanvi, Yandamuri covered her mouth and stuffed the baby in a suitcase, then left her at a basement gym in the apartment building, where she suffocated to death. During a frantic three-day search by police and the local community, Yandamuri handed out missing baby flyers.

The H-1B tech worker was arrested later that week at a local gambling casino. Earlier India-West stories reported that Yandamuri had accrued $35,000 in gambling debts and had filed for bankruptcy while working in Northern California. His wife Komali was pregnant at the time of the murders. She has returned to India.

https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/execution-delayed-in-pennsylvania-for-notorious-killer-raghunandan-yandamuri/article_80172b74-18ee-11e8-9076-eb541b160562.html

Charles Hicks Pennsylvania Death Row

Charles Hicks was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Deanna Null. According to court documents Charles Hicks would murder Deanna Null before dismembering her body and dumping body parts along Interstate 80 and Interstate 380. Charles Hicks is also suspecting of other murders in Texas. Charles Hicks would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Pennsylvania Death Row Inmate List

Charles Hicks 2021 Information

Name	Name Type
CHARLES HICKS	Also Known As
CHARLES R HICKS	Also Known As
CHARLES RAY HICKS	Also Known As
CHARLES RAY HICKS	Commit Name
CHARLES RAY HICKS JR	True Name
CHARLES RAY HICKS JR	Also Known As

Parole Number: LX7908
Age: 46
Date of Birth: 05/20/1974
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 5′ 03″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: LIGHT
Current Location: PHOENIX

Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: MONROE

Charles Hicks More News

Charles Ray Hicks Jr., of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, convicted of first-degree murder in the January 2008 death and dismemberment of Deanna Null of Scranton, leaves the courtroom Nov. 17, 2014, at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg, during the penalty phase of the trial. An eastern Pennsylvania jury imposed the death penalty on Hicks

The Monroe County man sentenced to death this week in Pennsylvania for the 2008 Pocono Mountains killing and dismemberment of a woman told investigators that he also killed women in Texas, where he used to live.

Charles Ray Hicks Jr.’s claims are getting attention in the Lone Star State.

Hicks, 40, of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to death Tuesday after being convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of 36-year-old Deanna Null, whose severed remains were found in trash bags along Interstates 80 and 380 near Stroudsburg six years ago. Authorities say Hicks severely beat Null and started dismembering her while she was still alive. Her hands were found hidden in the walls of his home.

Hicks lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area prior to moving to Pennsylvania in late 2007 for a job with a defense contractor, according to Wendy Serfass, a detective with the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office. Texas Rangers have known since at least 2009 about Hicks’ claims to have killed in Texas, she said. But Hicks declined to speak with investigators until Monday, when prosecutors offered to remove the death penalty as a punishment if he provided information about crimes in Texas. But the information wasn’t satisfactory to investigators, Serfass said.

She declined to say how many killings Hicks claimed to have committed, but she said investigators are reviewing multiple unsolved homicides in North Texas.

“I don’t think this is done as far as Texas is concerned,” she said.

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Lonny Haschel said in a statement Thursday that Rangers are investigating the claims with the help of other Texas law enforcement agencies and that the department had nothing else to say about the matter.

Hicks’ lawyer during the trial, Monroe County public defender Jason LaBar, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message Thursday seeking comment.

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/2014/11/charles_hicks_claims_of_more_m.html