Federal and state judges have halted the executions of two men convicted of the 1987 murder of a gay Bucks County artist.
In April, federal and state judges stayed the execution of Richard R. Laird, the twice-convicted murderer of Anthony Milano.
In February, a federal judge vacated the death sentence of Laird’s accomplice, Frank R. Chester, and ordered an evidentiary hearing.
Laird and Chester killed Milano in December 1987, after luring Milano from a Bristol Township tavern into a secluded wooded area.
A few hours later, police found Milano’s body, his throat hacked out with a boxcutter. Laird and Chester were arrested, each blaming the other for the murder.
Prosecutors called it an antigay hate crime, partly because both men indicated animus to the LGBT community while inside the tavern.
In May 1988, a jury found both men guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced them to death.
In March, Gov. Corbett signed Laird’s death warrant and set his death by lethal injection for May 12.
But on April 18, Bucks County Common Pleas Court Judge Rea B. Boylan granted a stay of the execution while Laird pursues post-conviction appeals.
The following day, U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois also granted an indefinite stay in federal court.
In court papers, attorneys for Laird said it was necessary for state and federal judges to issue stays, to clear the way for appeals in state and federal courts.
“There is no impediment under facts or law which prevent the Court from granting the stay and permitting [Laird] to litigate his post-conviction case,” according to appellate papers filed on behalf of Laird.
But prosecutors filed documents opposing the stays.
“[Laird] is engaging in gamesmanship in an attempt to delay his execution date,” stated court documents filed by Bucks County First Assistant District Attorney Michelle A. Henry.
In 2001, DuBois voided the death sentence for Laird, citing numerous technical errors in how his 1988 trial was conducted.
Laird was retried in 2007, and a second jury convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death.
It is this second conviction Laird is appealing, although the exact reasons for his appeal haven’t yet been specified in court papers.
In February, U.S. District Court Judge C. Darnell Jones vacated Chester’s death sentence. Chester contends that his attorney, Thomas Edwards Jr., had a conflict of interest while representing him in 1988, a pending driving-under-the-influence charge.
Chester contends that Edwards served him ineffectively to gain favor with the trial judge and prosecutor to receive a lenient DUI sentence, according to appellate papers.
Edwards couldn’t be reached for comment.
Jones said the allegation merits an evidentiary hearing, which hadn’t been scheduled at press time.
Henry, the Bucks County prosecutor, is handling the state’s case against both Laird and Chester. She said their executions shouldn’t be delayed.
“Twenty-three years is a long time to wait for justice,” she told PGN. “We’re committing to seeing this through, no matter how long it takes.”
Henry noted that both men were convicted of first-degree murder. Because they also committed aggravated crimes of kidnapping and torture, it was appropriate for jurors to sentence them to death, she said.
“I didn’t write the law,” Henry added. “The legislature delineated the appropriate penalties. What [Laird and Chester] did to Anthony Milano is indescribable.”
But Tommi Avicolli Mecca, an LGBT activist who covered the 1988 trial for PGN, said he opposes the death penalty, including in the Milano case.
“For us to think the death penalty is going to somehow wipe out antigay violence is bullshit,” he said. “The queer community needs to be talking about ways of dealing with all this violence that doesn’t involve the death penalty.”
Janet Kelley, a spokesperson for Gov. Corbett, said Corbett would not comment on cases still in litigation.
Pennsylvania hasn’t executed anyone since 1999.
Laird, 47, remains incarcerated on death row at Greene State Prison, and Chester, 42, remains incarcerated on death row at Graterford State Prison.
Tim Cwiek can be reached at [email protected].