Richard R. Laird, the killer of gay artist Anthony Milano, is back in federal court, reiterating his claim that he’s not guilty of first-degree murder.
In 1987, Laird and Frank R. Chester escorted Milano out of a Tullytown tavern and kidnapped him to a wooded area, where his throat was hacked out with a box cutter.
A Bucks County jury convicted Laird and Chester of first-degree murder and sentenced them to death in 1988.
But Laird claims he isn’t guilty of first-degree murder because he was extremely intoxicated when he stabbed Milano, and couldn’t form a specific intent to kill.
In 2001, U.S. District Judge Jan E. Dubois found numerous errors in Laird’s 1988 trial, and voided Laird’s first-degree murder conviction.
But Laird had a second trial in 2007, and another Bucks County jury reinstated his first-degree murder conviction and re-sentenced him to death.
For the past eight years, Laird has asked various state courts to void his first-degree murder conviction — to no avail.
Now Laird is back in federal court, hoping DuBois will find errors in his 2007 retrial and void his first-degree murder conviction once again.
In a court filing, Laird’s attorneys said jurors in 2007 weren’t given adequate information about mitigating factors that support Laird’s request to have his first-degree murder conviction voided.
“There is no other capital case in Pennsylvania where so little aggravation and so much mitigation resulted in a death sentence,” according to the filing.
In a recent order, Dubois said Laird’s attorneys have until Jan. 13 to submit a legal brief detailing the reasons why Laird’s first-degree murder conviction should be voided.
Dubois said prosecutors have until March 14 to reply to Laird’s legal brief.
Neither side had a comment for this story.
Laird, 52, remains on death row at a state prison in Franklin Township.
Chester, 47, remains on death row at a state prison in Graterford. His first-degree murder conviction also was voided, and prosecutors must decide whether to re-try him.