Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 3, 2006 21:06:35 GMT -5
A death-row inmate from '84 has won the right to have a new jury decide his fate for his conviction 20 years ago in the slashing death and robbery of a man outside a Somerset Township tavern.
The state Supreme Court ruled last week that Thomas Jeffrey Gorby, 47, should receive a new sentencing hearing because the attorney who represented him during his trial in 1986 was ineffective.
Gorby was convicted of killing Drayton Spahr outside the Somerset Inn on Dec. 21, 1985. The jury imposed the death penalty.
Over the 20 years Gorby has been on death row, he has filed numerous appeals. The latest involved Gorby's claims that his defense attorney, Daniel Chunko, failed to fully investigate claims that Gorby suffered from brain disorders stemming from an automobile accident, alleged abuse and substance abuse. That information, Gorby argued, could have been used to try to sway the jury against imposing the death penalty and instead sentencing him to life in prison.
In 2000, Washington County Senior Judge John F. Bell, who presided over Gorby's trial, accepted affidavits from mental-health experts on the issue but did not hear testimony. He denied Gorby's charge of ineffectiveness, and the case was appealed to state Supreme Court.
On June 20, the Supreme Court overturned Bell's decision.
"It is also reasonably clear that the necessary but omitted investigation would have yielded evidence of value at the penalty phase," said the court.
"Furthermore, and particularly as trial counsel's actual presentation at the penalty phase of trial was remarkably weak, we find it reasonably probable that at least one juror might have decided differently had an effective presentation been made, and thus, might have averted a death sentence."
District Attorney John C. Pettit could not be reached for comment Thursday on how he would proceed in Gorby's case.
But the ruling comes 2 months after Bell ruled that another Washington County death-row inmate, Dino Rucci, should have his death sentenced commuted to life in prison because his mental-health issues were not presented to the jury during the penalty phase of his 1992 trial.
At Gorby's post-trial hearing, two psychologists testified that tests and interviews revealed he suffered from brain damage, possibly caused by a 1976 traffic accident or high fever when he was 4, as well as drug and alcohol abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder from an unstable childhood.
Also, a Connecticut psychiatrist testified that Gorby's brain impairment could have resulted from numerous events, including alcoholism and his traumatic childhood.
The Supreme Court found that Gorby's attorney never presented the information to the jury that sentenced Gorby to death.
Gorby remains on death row at State Correctional Institution at Greene. He is represented by attorneys from Federal Defense Assistance of Philadelphia, a nonprofit group that represents the state's death-row inmates in appeals.
In the Rucci case, Bell said the attorney failed to present Rucci's
mental-health issues to a jury. He noted that Rucci, 46, formerly of Marianna, began suffering seizures and convulsions as a child and that he suffered head trauma and brain injuries that resulted in organic brain damage. That damage affected the portion of his brain responsible for impulse control and inhibition. He also was raised in an abusive home.
Bell ruled that the information would have been relevant to present to the jury as a mitigating circumstance when it was deciding whether Rucci should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
Rucci's attorneys and Pettit reached an agreement that Rucci's death sentence would be commuted to life in prison without parole if he abandoned any future appeals of his conviction.
(source: Observer Reporter)
The state Supreme Court ruled last week that Thomas Jeffrey Gorby, 47, should receive a new sentencing hearing because the attorney who represented him during his trial in 1986 was ineffective.
Gorby was convicted of killing Drayton Spahr outside the Somerset Inn on Dec. 21, 1985. The jury imposed the death penalty.
Over the 20 years Gorby has been on death row, he has filed numerous appeals. The latest involved Gorby's claims that his defense attorney, Daniel Chunko, failed to fully investigate claims that Gorby suffered from brain disorders stemming from an automobile accident, alleged abuse and substance abuse. That information, Gorby argued, could have been used to try to sway the jury against imposing the death penalty and instead sentencing him to life in prison.
In 2000, Washington County Senior Judge John F. Bell, who presided over Gorby's trial, accepted affidavits from mental-health experts on the issue but did not hear testimony. He denied Gorby's charge of ineffectiveness, and the case was appealed to state Supreme Court.
On June 20, the Supreme Court overturned Bell's decision.
"It is also reasonably clear that the necessary but omitted investigation would have yielded evidence of value at the penalty phase," said the court.
"Furthermore, and particularly as trial counsel's actual presentation at the penalty phase of trial was remarkably weak, we find it reasonably probable that at least one juror might have decided differently had an effective presentation been made, and thus, might have averted a death sentence."
District Attorney John C. Pettit could not be reached for comment Thursday on how he would proceed in Gorby's case.
But the ruling comes 2 months after Bell ruled that another Washington County death-row inmate, Dino Rucci, should have his death sentenced commuted to life in prison because his mental-health issues were not presented to the jury during the penalty phase of his 1992 trial.
At Gorby's post-trial hearing, two psychologists testified that tests and interviews revealed he suffered from brain damage, possibly caused by a 1976 traffic accident or high fever when he was 4, as well as drug and alcohol abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder from an unstable childhood.
Also, a Connecticut psychiatrist testified that Gorby's brain impairment could have resulted from numerous events, including alcoholism and his traumatic childhood.
The Supreme Court found that Gorby's attorney never presented the information to the jury that sentenced Gorby to death.
Gorby remains on death row at State Correctional Institution at Greene. He is represented by attorneys from Federal Defense Assistance of Philadelphia, a nonprofit group that represents the state's death-row inmates in appeals.
In the Rucci case, Bell said the attorney failed to present Rucci's
mental-health issues to a jury. He noted that Rucci, 46, formerly of Marianna, began suffering seizures and convulsions as a child and that he suffered head trauma and brain injuries that resulted in organic brain damage. That damage affected the portion of his brain responsible for impulse control and inhibition. He also was raised in an abusive home.
Bell ruled that the information would have been relevant to present to the jury as a mitigating circumstance when it was deciding whether Rucci should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
Rucci's attorneys and Pettit reached an agreement that Rucci's death sentence would be commuted to life in prison without parole if he abandoned any future appeals of his conviction.
(source: Observer Reporter)