Wasted money
That is a huge chunk of money isn’t it? There is so much a person can do with almost $20,000 it makes my head spin.
Ready for the shocker? $19,852 is what it cost the tax payers to give John Allen Hughes a fair trial.
First let me tell you about Hughes.
I started a book about Beaver Hole in Warrington Township and here is a little piece of it. http://girlboxer1970.com/2011/03/07/wet-dirty-and-now-single/
I’ve learned since starting this book, that Hughes was man who murdered Sheila L. Deller of Dallastown with an ax and dumped her body along the creek at Beaver Hole on February 20, 1992.
The most costly expense was Hughes court appointed lawyer. That bill came to $9080.00. My jaw hit the floor when I read who his attorney was: Douglas France. France is also my husband’s lawyer, or at least one of them. He apparently needs two to get what he wants all the time. I am willing to bet my future ex hubby has spent more on divorcing me (or avoiding divorcing me) than York County spent on convicting John Allen Hughes. Hughes’ trial has been the most expensive in York County’s history.
In 1997, France managed to get this ax murderer a life sentence instead of the death sentence. What does Hughes do after his “win” but hang himself in the prison. France was very disappointed at his clients suicide. Seriously? Disappointed? I say Hughes saved York County a small fortune by offing himself. The last thing people want is tax money paying for this fucking ax murderer’s life long existence in prison. I’ve read Hughes past and childhood. I’ve talked to some of his friends. Yes, his life was fucked up as a child but that is not an excuse to bash someone’s head in with an ax.
My curiosity made me check online to see who is on death row in York County. (York Daily Record)
As of January 2011, there are 10 people on death row in York County cases, including a pair of brothers who were convicted three years apart for the same double murder.
There are more than 200 people on death row in Pennsylvania. Since 1985, Pennsylvania governors have signed more than 300 execution warrants. Three executions have been carried out — two in 1995 and one in 1999– since a 10-year national moratorium on the death penalty ended in 1977.
York County death row inmates:
- Paul Gamboa-Taylorwas sentenced Jan. 23, 1992, after pleading guilty to the May 18, 1991, hammer slayings of four family members: his wife, Valeria L. Gamboa-Taylor; their two children, Paul, 4, and Jasmine, 2; and another child, Lance Barshinger, 2. He received a life sentence for killing his mother-in-law, Donna M. Barshinger. His case is on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
- Hubert Lester Michael Jr.sentenced March 20, 1995, after pleading guilty to the July 12, 1993, abduction and shooting death of 16-year-old Trista Elizabeth Eng in the Dillsburg area. Michael unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw his guilty plea. Execution warrants were signed in 1996 by Gov. Tom Ridge and 2004 by Gov. Ed Rendell. His case is on appeal before the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Mark Newton Spotz was sentenced April 24, 1996, for the Feb. 2, 1995, shooting death of Penny Gunnet, 41, of New Salem, his third victim in a four-day crime spree through central and eastern Pennsylvania. Spotz also received death sentences for the murders of June Rose Ohlinger of Schuylkill County, and Betty Amstutz, 71, of Cumberland County. An execution warrant for the York County conviction was signed by Ridge in 2001. He received a stay in the Gunnet murder in 2001 and that case is on appeal in York County court.
- John Amos Smallwas sentenced June 19, 1996, after being convicted of murder and attempted rape of 17-year-old Cheryl Smith, whose body was found in West Manheim Township in 1981. Execution warrants were signed in 2001 by Ridge and in 2009 by Rendell.
- Kevin Brian Dowlingwas sentenced Dec. 14, 1998, for the Oct. 20, 1997, shooting death of Jennifer Lynn Myers inside her art and frame shop just outside Spring Grove. An execution warrant was signed in 2007 by Rendell. His case is on appeal in York County.
- Milton Montalvo was sentenced Feb. 14, 2000, and Noel Montalvo was sentenced April 14, 2003, for the April 19, 1998, stabbing deaths of Miriam Asencio-Cruz and Manuel Ramirez Santana inside the Cruz’s York apartment. Rendell signed an execution warrant for Noel Montalvo in July 2010 and signed one for Milton in January 2011. Noel’s case is on appeal to the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania.
- Harve Lamar Johnson was sentenced Nov. 16, 2009, for the April 7, 2008, beating death of 2-year-old Darisabel Baez, his girlfriend’s daughter, in York. Johnson’s appeal is before the state Supreme Court.
- Kevin Edward Mattison was sentenced Dec. 17, 2010, for the Dec. 9, 2008, robbery and shooting of Christian Agosto in York. Mattison had previously been convicted of third-degree murder and served prison time in Maryland.
- Hector Morales was sentenced Jan. 21, 2011, for the 2009 shooting death of Ronald “Country” Simmons Jr. Police said Morales broke into Simmons’ York home and shot him six times because Simmons was set to testify in a drug case.
When I found this article, I was surprised to recognize another name on the list of very bad people. I recently found on Facebook a friend of my parents from the 80’s. I see her daughter Trista’s killer is one of the people on death row. It is terrible that he is guilty, admits he is guilty yet hasn’t received the death penalty yet. Hubert Lester Michael does not deserve every breath he takes. There are actually groups online trying to get his sentence changed to life in prison. Screw that….Trista’s life was taken at 16 by a stranger who saw her walking to work at the nearby Hardee’s. Michael abducted Trista, shot her three times and left her body in the Ski Roundtop area. He deserves death but instead is living and breathing right here in our county.
The last execution in PA was in 1999. Gary Heidnik had imprisoned 6 women in his dungeon-like basement at 3520 North Marshall Street in Philadelphia and murdered 2 of them. He tortured the women he kidnapped and tried to get them pregnant. This psychopath only lived a few street from my mother’s family. I’ve been to the shopping center where Heidnik was kidnapping women from. Scary!
It’s time to get on with these convicted killers.
Electric, gas or needle?
~P.
girlboxer1970 