05-09-2014, 10:14 AM
PROSECUTORS SEEK DEATH PENALTY AGAINST WADE...BUT CAN THEY GET IT?
![[Image: Allen-Wade-Photo.jpg]](http://www.wjpa.com/images/OLYMPICSPIX/News%20Photos/Allen-Wade-Photo.jpg)
The Allegheny County District Attorney's office will seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing two East Liberty sisters in February.
Allen Wade, 43, faces a number of charges in the case, including two counts of homicide. His case has been assigned to Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski, and the notice of intent to seek capital punishment was filed Wednesday.
DNA from Wade, a convicted felon who lived next door to the women, was found under Susan Wolfe's fingernails, prosecutors said.
Wade has two previous convictions for robbery.
To seek capital punishment, the prosecution must prove at least one aggravating factor. There are 18 under Pennsylvania law. In this case, the district attorney's office has asserted five. They include:
* The victim was a prosecution witness to a murder or felony committed by the defendant. Investigators believe Susan Wolfe, who was found naked, was killed first, and that Sarah Wolfe arrived home during the attack. She was found fully clothed.
* The defendant committed the killing while in the perpetration of a felony.
* The defendant has a significant history of felony convictions involving violence.
* The defendant has been convicted of another offense before or at the time of the offense at issue for which a sentence of life or death was possible.
* The defendant has been convicted of another murder in any jurisdiction either before or at the time of the offense at issue. (HOTD: In this case, the suspect does not yet have a homicide conviction on his record -- but if he's convicted of murdering both of the sisters, prosecutors wanna use his murder conviction for one of the sisters as an aggravator to support the death penalty punishment for the murder of the other sister.)
Veteran defense attorney Patrick Thomassey, who has been involved in about a dozen death penalty cases, characterized the last two factors as "double dipping."
"I think the aggravators were designed originally to apply to the situation where a guy is on trial for murder and has a homicide conviction in the past," he said. "The death penalty is designed for the career criminal who commits a heinous crime that makes it one step above the normal murder."
But prosecutors argue that the last two factors are designed to apply to a case with multiple victims. "It's an acknowledgement of two separate violent acts," said David Freed, president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. "From our perspective, that's how the statute is designed."
Duquesne University law professor Bruce Ledewitz said that the number of aggravators laid out by the prosecution is not as significant as it might seem. "It isn't, and it won't be to the jury, either," he said. "It is the quality and the nature of the aggravators. It's not supposed to be counting."
Sometimes, Mr. Ledewitz continued, "one mitigator may outweigh five, six, seven aggravators." Mitigating factors can include things such as childhood abuse, mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse and dysfunctional family life. Mr. Jones said he did not know what mitigators might come into play in Wade's case.
"The community is up in arms about this case because the victims are so sympathetic," Law Professor Ledewitz said. "But the jury won't be. Juries understand their obligation pretty well."
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...z31E6SWfEX
The Allegheny County District Attorney's office will seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing two East Liberty sisters in February.
Allen Wade, 43, faces a number of charges in the case, including two counts of homicide. His case has been assigned to Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski, and the notice of intent to seek capital punishment was filed Wednesday.
DNA from Wade, a convicted felon who lived next door to the women, was found under Susan Wolfe's fingernails, prosecutors said.
Wade has two previous convictions for robbery.
To seek capital punishment, the prosecution must prove at least one aggravating factor. There are 18 under Pennsylvania law. In this case, the district attorney's office has asserted five. They include:
* The victim was a prosecution witness to a murder or felony committed by the defendant. Investigators believe Susan Wolfe, who was found naked, was killed first, and that Sarah Wolfe arrived home during the attack. She was found fully clothed.
* The defendant committed the killing while in the perpetration of a felony.
* The defendant has a significant history of felony convictions involving violence.
* The defendant has been convicted of another offense before or at the time of the offense at issue for which a sentence of life or death was possible.
* The defendant has been convicted of another murder in any jurisdiction either before or at the time of the offense at issue. (HOTD: In this case, the suspect does not yet have a homicide conviction on his record -- but if he's convicted of murdering both of the sisters, prosecutors wanna use his murder conviction for one of the sisters as an aggravator to support the death penalty punishment for the murder of the other sister.)
Veteran defense attorney Patrick Thomassey, who has been involved in about a dozen death penalty cases, characterized the last two factors as "double dipping."
"I think the aggravators were designed originally to apply to the situation where a guy is on trial for murder and has a homicide conviction in the past," he said. "The death penalty is designed for the career criminal who commits a heinous crime that makes it one step above the normal murder."
But prosecutors argue that the last two factors are designed to apply to a case with multiple victims. "It's an acknowledgement of two separate violent acts," said David Freed, president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. "From our perspective, that's how the statute is designed."
Duquesne University law professor Bruce Ledewitz said that the number of aggravators laid out by the prosecution is not as significant as it might seem. "It isn't, and it won't be to the jury, either," he said. "It is the quality and the nature of the aggravators. It's not supposed to be counting."
Sometimes, Mr. Ledewitz continued, "one mitigator may outweigh five, six, seven aggravators." Mitigating factors can include things such as childhood abuse, mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse and dysfunctional family life. Mr. Jones said he did not know what mitigators might come into play in Wade's case.
"The community is up in arms about this case because the victims are so sympathetic," Law Professor Ledewitz said. "But the jury won't be. Juries understand their obligation pretty well."
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...z31E6SWfEX