Richard R. Laird, the twice-convicted killer of gay artist Anthony V. Milano, says jurors weren’t fully informed of his abusive childhood before resentencing him to death in 2007.
Laird claims his father, who is deceased, molested him on a regular basis between the ages of five-11.
Laird wants another trial, partly on the basis that jurors in 2007 weren’t provided enough facts about the alleged molestation.
But prosecutors insist the jurors had sufficient facts about all extenuating circumstances that could have lessened Laird’s penalty, including the alleged molestation.
In 1987, Laird and Frank R. Chester escorted Milano from a Bristol Township tavern and brutally slashed him to death in a nearby wooded area.
The following year, a Bucks County jury convicted Laird and Chester of first-degree murder and sentenced them to death.
But in 2001, a federal judge ruled that Laird merited a new trial due to faulty jury instructions by the trial judge.
Laird admits killing Milano but says he acted with “diminished capacity,” due to excessive alcohol consumption, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and organic brain disease due to repetitive head injuries.
But when Laird was retried in 2007, a Bucks County jury rejected his diminished-capacity defense and resentenced him to death.
Laird is appealing in state Supreme Court, claiming his retrial attorneys should have hired an expert on the effects of childhood sexual abuse, such as Dr. David Lisak.
Lisak, a clinical psychologist, was hired by Laird’s current attorneys. He interviewed Laird for about six hours and conducted other in-depth research on the Milano case. In 2012, Lisak submitted a lengthy report about the effects of childhood sexual abuse on Laird’s behavior.
According to the report, Laird’s father repeatedly raped him as a child, both orally and anally.
“The sick fuck would rub his dick between my cheeks,” Laird told Lisak.
Laird said the abuse was predictable when his father would get drunk.
“Every time he came home drunk, I knew I would either have to suck his dick or get beaten,” Laird said. After oral sex, Laird’s father would say to Laird, “No-good dirty bastard. Go wash out your mouth,” according to Lisak’s report.
As a result, Laird has a “gag reflex” related to anything that reminds him of the “taste and consistency” of his father’s ejaculate. He also has flashbacks and nightmares about the alleged abuse.
After anal sex, Laird “would feel rectal pain and discomfort for days,” according to Lisak’s report.
The alleged abuse caused Laird to adopt a hyper-masculine persona, to compensate for his feelings of helplessness and inferiority. For example, while playing youth football, Laird would be especially rough with his teammates, according to Lisak’s report.
“As I got older I started to feel I could be the baddest mother-fucker,” Laird said.
But Laird eventually grew to avoid any type of physical contact with other men. “I can’t stand it if a man touches me in any way,” Laird said.
Laird also avoided male bonding, including recreational activities such as going fishing with another man, according to Lisak’s report. To this day, Laird finds it difficult to urinate in the presence of another man, unless the restroom has private stalls or a partition between urinals.
Laird’s brother, Mark, told Lisak their father was physically abusive to family members.
Mark Laird said he witnessed their father strangling their mother during a particularly violent incident.
“She was turning blue and he’s saying, ‘I’m not hurting her, I’m not hurting her,’ and he’s killing her,” Mark Laird told Lisak.
Lisak’s report indicates that Richard Laird could control his pent-up rage and anger if he wasn’t drinking excessively.
For example, when Laird was about 15, another male touched his crotch inappropriately. Laird rebuffed the grope without violence, because he wasn’t inebriated at the time.
Lisak’s report also notes that Laird has only fragmentary memories of the night that he killed Milano.
Referring to that night, the report concludes: “It is possible that in an extremely intoxicated state, Richard may have acted on the long pent-up rage he was capable of feeling towards any male whom he perceived as wanting to touch him against his will.”
Laird also claims he should have a new trial because his attorneys failed to adequately object to prosecutorial misconduct; failed to object to impermissible victim-impact testimony; and failed to object to Chester being in the courtroom in shackles.
Oral arguments on Laird’s bid for a new trial are expected sometime next year.
Chester also seeks a new trial, and his request is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Laird, 51, and Chester, 46, remain on death row in state prisons, pending the outcome of their appeals.
