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Thread: Michael Conforti - Pennsylvania

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    Michael Conforti - Pennsylvania




    Facts of the Crime:

    On September 20, 1991, Michael Conforti was sentenced to death in Wayne County after being convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree, kidnapping, rape, criminal conspiracy to commit murder, criminal conspiracy to commit rape and criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

    Conforti was sent to death row after being convicted in Wayne County of raping and stabbing to death Kathleen Harbison in December 1990. The 22-year-old woman was from Blooming Grove Township.

    Conforti's co-conspirator, James Bellman III, 32, pleaded guilty to similar charges and later killed himself in prison.

    Conforti and Bellman kidnapped Harbison outside a bar and raped and killed her.

    The victim's body was found on December 21, 1990, in a wooded area near Gouldsboro. She had been stabbed 12 times. There was evidence that Harbison's wrists and ankles had been bound by handcuffs.

    On May 27, 1993, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed his death sentence on direct appeal.

  2. #2
    streetmedic
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    I grew up in the same small town as Michael Conforti, and we were on/off friends for several years. I feel bad that his life has come to this, but I feel much worse for the victim of his heinous crime. The additional crime is that now, 20 years after the sentence was passed, Conforti still draws breath.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Welcome to the site streetmedic. Thank you for sharing. I agree with you. PA needs to get its death penalty in gear. Jury verdicts show the people of Pennsylvania support capital punishment. All PA needs to do is adopt Delaware's lethal injection protocol. It was tried and proven effective last week.

  4. #4
    BloomingGrove86
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    I dont know where to really start. I am the "victims Family" I am her only son. My mother was taken from me when i was 4 years old. I have very vague memories of her. Why this man did what he did is beyond me. Considering my uncle knew them, people i grew up with knew them. All i can hope for is, i get to see michael conforti get the lethal injection he deserves. I hope it happens very very soon.

    John.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    John I cannot even begin to imagine what it has been like for you. I personally extend a humble welcome to this site. Hang in there! PA seems to be on the right track.
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    Passed away. Rob's Avatar
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    Welcome to the site John. We will certainly keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Hope you can see the justice that you and your mother deserve.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    February 18, 2015

    Execution moratorium could impact local murder case

    By Kevin Kearney
    The Wayne Independent

    Gov. Tom Wolf's moratorium on prisoner executions could impact the case of an area man who was sentenced to death in 1991 for first-degree murder and related charges.

    The Democratic governor has halted all executions in the commonwealth, citing an "error prone" justice system and "inherent biases."

    The announcement of reprieves impacts only those already convicted and awaiting execution.

    Michael Conforti, 60, formerly of Greentown, has been on death row since 1991 after he was convicted in Wayne County court of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, criminal conspiracy to commit murder, criminal conspiracy to commit rape and criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

    In 1993 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed Conforti's death sentence.

    Wolf said in a statement the moratorium would be in place until a task force examining capital punishment in Pennsylvania issues a final report.

    "If the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is going to take the irrevocable step of executing a human being, its capital sentencing system must be infallible," said the governor.

    "Pennsylvania's system is riddled with flaws, making it error prone, expensive and anything but infallible."

    Wolf said numerous recent studies have questioned the accuracy and fairness of Pennsylvania's capital sentencing system.

    "These studies suggest that inherent biases affect the makeup of death row.

    "While data is incomplete, there are strong indications that a person is more likely to be charged with a capital offense and sentenced to death if he is poor or of a minority racial group, and particularly where the victim of the crime was Caucasian," according to the governor's statement

    Wolf added, "This moratorium is in no way an expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row, all of whom have been convicted of committing heinous crimes. This decision is based on a flawed system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust and expensive."

    Pennsylvania has executed three inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the last in 1999. All were white males.

    Conforti was sent to death row after being convicted in Wayne County of raping and stabbing to death Kathleen Harbison in December 1990. The 22-year-old woman was from Blooming Grove Township.

    Conforti's co-conspirator, James Bellman III, 32, pleaded guilty to similar charges and later killed himself in prison.

    Conforti and Bellman kidnapped Harbison outside a bar and raped and killed her.

    The victim's body was found Dec. 21, 1990, in a wooded area near Gouldsboro. She had been stabbed 12 times. There was evidence that Harbison's wrists and ankles had been bound by handcuffs.

    Not every agrees with the moratorium, including Pike County District Attorney Raymond Tonkin, who is prosecuting suspected killer Eric Matthew Frein.

    Frein faces a potential death sentence in the fatal shooting of state police Trooper Bryon Dickson, 38, who was attacked outside of the Blooming Grove barracks last year.

    In a statement the Republican district attorney said, "Governor Wolf’s unilateral and potentially unlawful action ... does not prevent my office from seeking justice on behalf of the Dickson family and the entire State Police family in the matter of Commonwealth v. Eric Matthew Frein."

    Tonkin said his office filed a notice of aggravating circumstances and intent to seek the death penalty against Frein.

    The action by Wolf "does not serve as any legal impediment to my office’s pursuit of justice" in the case against Frein, Tonkin said.

    The district attorney added, "I am disappointed that the Governor failed to respond to correspondence from the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association before announcing to the Commonwealth’s citizens he is granting a moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty for those convicted of some of the most heinous crimes in the state.

    "In announcing his action, the Governor has usurped the authority of the legislature and courts in setting the lawful punishment for convicted killers. This unilateral action will only cause more pain and confusion to families who have suffered the actions of the worst criminals."

    Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said in an email Monday that, "No one, including the Governor, has the legal right to nullify a jury's unanimous verdict and unanimous sentencing in a case in which the death penalty has been imposed."

    Edwards stated, "A Governor is empowered to enforce law, not try to remake it. That is the job of our legislators. And courts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are there to assure the process of trial against an accused defendant is fair and constitutional."

    "As a prosecutor, I have seen first hand the devastation and destruction a capital murder creates against victims, families and communities. If a crime is presented in Wayne County which presents the very narrow set of facts where the death penalty should be imposed, I will seek it."

    http://www.wayneindependent.com/arti...18962019521174

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Conforti was granted a PCRA appeal and his conviction vacated.

    03DC7DC2-420C-4A0A-BCDF-154C707410F9.jpg
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    After 30 years awaiting lethal injection, a Poconos man convicted of murder may go free

    DAVID MAZZENGA Tri-County Independent

    For 30 years, Michael Conforti, once a Pike County resident of Greentown, has sat on death row in a state prison.

    Convicted of the December 1990 kidnapping, rape and murder of 22-year-old Kathleen Harbison, Conforti has spent the last three decades fighting in appeals courts to prove the innocence he's averred from day one.

    On December 27, 2021, his efforts paid off.

    Senior Judge Linda Wallach Miller of Monroe County issued an Order at the end of last year relieving Conforti of his conviction and sentence. In her legal Opinion, Miller casts doubt on the efficacy of Conforti's trial defense. Miller questioned details concerning Conforti's co-defendant and the prosecution's key witness, James Bellman III, saying they were hidden by prosecuting attorney Raymond Hamill.

    Hamill was the District Attorney during the trial, overseeing prosecution of Bellman, while Assistant District Attorney Mark Zimmer led Conforti's prosecution. Hamill would later be elected President Judge, serving for 10 years between January 2007 and December 2016 before stepping down. He served as Wayne County Senior Judge thereafter until his retirement in January 2018. At the time, he explained to the Tri-County Independent he sought retirement to spend more time with his family and because wished to represent his church in private practice.

    Zimmer succeeded Hamill as District Attorney in 1992. Zimmer later returned to his private law practice on Main Street in Honesdale.

    Conforti's conviction relief means he would get to walk free, had the Pennsylvania Attorney General not stepped in to challenge the ruling.

    Conforti now waits in Wayne County Correctional Facility while the case is reviewed yet one more time by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. There is yet no estimate given for when the Court will decide the matter.

    The Tri-County Independent reached out to Kathleen Harbison's family to ask for their thoughts regarding Conforti's potential release after 30 years. They did not wish to comment at this time.

    To glean insight into how court rulings like this may affect a victim's family, The Tri-County Independent reached out to Victims Intervention Program of Wayne and Pike County (VIP) Executive Director Michele Minor Wolf.

    Typically, Wolf said, when someone is directly or indirectly traumatized by a crime, each time they are called to testify against their aggressor or the crime is brought up again in the media, it can reignite that trauma.

    In cases where an abuser is released from prison, there is a pervasive fear, she noted. "Emotion can become very raw," Wolf said.

    "It's absolutely horrible," she added, remarking that any closure or healing which might have been gained from seeing an aggressor be convicted and sentenced can be lost if that individual's conviction were to be reprieved.

    "If I could say something to this family," Wolf said, "I would say my thoughts and prayers are with you. And we at VIP are here if you need anything." VIP can be reached by phone 24/7 at 570-253-4401 or online at VIPempowers.org.

    As the case is still active, and many of the parties involved are active witnesses potentially to be called to testify in the next hearing, efforts to reach those involved have been unfruitful.
    Having pleaded "not guilty" to the plethora of charges against them, Conforti and Bellman spent their summer of 1991 in Wayne County Prison, building a defense with their attorneys. Bellman was defended by Attorney Jeffrey Wander against the prosecution of District Attorney Raymond Hamill. Conforti's lawyer, Attorney Robert Bryan, was his line of defense against Assistant District Attorney Mark Zimmer.

    Hamill expressed adamant resolve the prosecution would pursue the death penalty for both Bellman and Conforti.

    The trials were held at the same time in separate court rooms with Wayne County's then President Judge Robert Conway presiding over Bellman's trial and Northampton County Senior Judge Michael Franciosa overseeing Conforti's trial.

    As reported in the September 20, 1991 edition of TWI, "this was the first dual murder trial in Wayne County history with only one DA's office," according to Hamill.

    "In imposing his sentence," wrote TWI, "Franciosa stated there was 'no room for mercy or compassion' based on the brutality and savagery of the murder. He then gave Conforti the maximum sentences of 10 to 20 years on both the rape and kidnapping charges and 5 to 10 years on criminal conspiracy."

    Prior to Franciosa's sentence, Conforti addressed the judge for 90 minutes. "If you are going to kill me," TWI quotes him, "do it for the right reasons... Bellman is a liar and I have proved that over and over again. I did not do what Bellman said I did. How does one man fight the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania? I'll fight for my life but I won't beg for it. I just want the truth to come out, not twisted, fabricated speculation."

    His quest to prove his truth would span the next three decades.

    New evidence informs yet another appeal for Conforti

    The Court, overseen by Judge Miller, heard a motion to appeal in 2021 with new evidence brought forth. New evidence, which would ultimately lead Conforti one step closer to his potential freedom.

    According to Miller, documents emerged on November 5 detailing a 1980 psychiatric evaluation of Bellman. The evaluation which was ordered in search of an insanity plea by his defense attorney at the time, Raymond Hamill. The same person who would later prosecute him in the Harbison murder trial.

    In 1979, Bellman was charged in Wayne County with unlawful restraint, terroristic threats, simple assault and corruption of minors for an incident during which he threatened two teenagers with a knife, demanding they remove their clothing. Bellman was stopped by another male who was present, and the teens told their parents of the encounter. They in turn called the police.

    Miller notes the location where that incident took place was near where Harbison's body would be found in December, 1991.

    Miller wrote in her Opinion that, during Bellman's 1980 trial, he was declared "criminally and legally insane at the time of the crime," by the defense witnesses. Miller adds the witnesses further said Bellman, "did not understand the nature of his actions and could not distinguish between right and wrong."

    Psychiatrists Dr. Bernard Willis and Dr. John Lesniak and psychologist Dr. Anthony Galdieri interviewed Bellman for the evaluation.

    "Drs. Lesniak and Willis diagnosed Bellman as a sociopath," Miller wrote. "Dr. Lesniak did not find Bellman to be insane but determined that Bellman suffered from a 'deeply engrained maladaptive pattern of behavior. He seems more unsocialized and his behavior pattern has brought him into repeated conflict with society. He is selfish, impulsive and unable to feel guilt or learn from experience. His frustration tolerance is low and he blames others for his behavior. He certainly is prone to alcohol and drug abuse. He does, therefore fit the clinical psychiatric picture of a sociopathic or antisocial personality.' "

    Miller states in her Opinion that Galdieri said Bellman lied during the testing to seem more insane and "probably over exaggerated many of his responses."

    Miller notes Hamill did not share any of this case information with either Zimmer or Conforti's defense counsel in 1991.

    "The Commonwealth argues that these reports would not have been admissible due to age," Miller wrote. "They were generated in 1980. The underlying crime was tried in 1991. However, during those ten years, Bellman was incarcerated for six of them. We believe that they would be admissible. Even if not admitted, they would be a powerful tool for the defense in many ways." Miller argued these reports, if presented to the jury, could have called Bellman's credibility— and with it, the prosecution's key testimony—into question.
    According to Miller, by not presenting the information, Hamill suppressed key documents pertinent to a case, violating precedent set in other cases.

    Those cases cited, Brady v. Maryland (1963) and Dennis v. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (2016), both affirm the prosecution is required to disclose all relevant information to a case to the defense.

    In 1963, a Maryland jury found John Brady and Charles Broblit guilty of murder. Brady stated he had participated in a robbery which preceded the murder but not in the murder itself. After the case was decided, Brady discovered Broblit had confessed to the murder earlier, but that information was suppressed for his trial. Brady challenged the ruling in appeals court where seven judges out of nine agreed that suppressing such evidence violated his constitutional rights granted by the 14th Amendment.

    This case was expanded upon in a 2016 decision which awarded James Dennis reprieve from his conviction and death sentence for the 1991 murder of Chedell Williams. Miller explains in her Opinion that in Dennis v. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, the court ruled that items which would need to be disclosed by the prosecution aren't just those that would make an acquittal more likely, but also any information which would make the public question the jury's decision.

    Miller elaborated in her Opinion that the Dennis case further shows such items which would need to be presented by the prosecution doesn't necessarily need to be admissible as evidence. As long as the information could undermine the reliability of an investigation or a witness, it would need to be presented, says Miller's Opinion.

    In addition to this, Miller is also critical of Bellman's testimony and subsequent guilty plea.

    "The testimony of Bellman was not at all expected," but happened overnight, Hamill told news media in 1991. Hamill told reporters that Bellman told him "he was not going to do it because he was afraid of what might happen to him in jail."

    According to Miller, there is discrepancy between Hamill's and Zimmer's 2021 testimonies whether or not a deal was struck. Miller noted Zimmer testified a stipulation was entered into the Court during the 1991 trial with input from Hamill. This stipulation outlined an agreement by which, if Bellman should testify against Conforti and then plead guilty, the Commonwealth would not seek the death penalty as punishment.

    Hamill testified the contents of the stipulation outlined in Zimmer's testimony were false, wrote Miller. Hamill "further testified that Bellman said he was not making a deal to testify against Conforti and that a life sentence was never offered in exchange for Bellman's testimony," she said.

    The reason establishing whether or not there were discussions between Hamill and Bellman's attorney is important is because, "Brady requires that any cooperation agreement, or even an implication, promise or understanding that a Commonwealth witness would receive favorable treatment as a result of his cooperation, must be given to the defense," wrote Miller, citing several court cases from 1992, 2000 and 2020.

    "Even absent an 'understanding' or 'implication' of favorable treatment in the future, any material showing that a Commonwealth witness was looking for favorable treatment or otherwise was motivated to curry favor with the prosecution is 'textbook impeachment evidence' and must be disclosed," she added, quoting sections from Commonwealth v. Johnson (2017), another appeal in the same vein as Brady v. Maryland.

    In the Johnson case, Roderick Johnson was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to death in 1997. A key part of the testimony which convicted Johnson was a witness named George Robles who linked Johnson to the murder weapon. The defense attempted to undercut Robles' testimony by showing he was a police informant and therefore was incentivized to provide a good testimony for the prosecution. The defense was met with an objection by the prosecution which was sustained by the judge. The defense ultimately failed.

    During appeal, the court ordered the prosecution to provide any documents pertaining to interactions between Robles and the police. They produced five documents showing Robles currying favor with police by exchanging information to avoid being charged with crimes. The court ruled this information should have been available to the defense during the trial.

    If there were discussions, and if those discussions were not disclosed to Conforti's defense attorney, then Conforti's rights were violated.

    Miller also found Conforti's defense counsel to be inadequate in that he did not represent traumatic brain injury inflicted on Conforti when he was a teenager.

    In 1974, at the age of 18, Conforti was involved in a car accident which left him with cognitive and emotional impairments after spending weeks in a coma. Conforti received damage to the frontal and temporal lobes in his brain. The frontal lobe governs executive function, social judgement, reasoning, problem solving and impulse control. The temporal lobe governs basic cognitive processing which can impair judgement reasoning and abstract thought if damaged.

    Miller notes Conforti's family documented changes in his personality after the accident, describing him as "childlike and easily taken advantage of."

    "The jury was not told of the severity of Conforti's cognitive damage," Miller said. "Had trial counsel been effective, the jury would have known to view Conforti's statement ('If you people think I did it, I'll take the death penalty') as evidence of his cognitive limitations and the outcome may have been different."

    Miller concludes: "The circumstances of this case demonstrate to us that the cumulative effect of defense counsel's serious failures and the constitutional errors committed by the prosecutor so undermined the fairness of the trial and sentencing proceedings that Conforti's right to due process and a fair sentencing hearing, and his rights under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were violated and Conforti is entitled to relief."

    Whether or not that relief will stick is currently in the hands of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

    https://www.poconorecord.com/story/n...om%20day%20one.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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