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Thread: Richard Scott Baumhammers - Pennsylvania Death Row

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    Richard Scott Baumhammers - Pennsylvania Death Row


    Anil Thakur


    Anita Gordon


    Thao Pham


    Ji-Ye Sun


    Garry Lee


    Richard Scott Baumhammers


    Facts of the Crime:

    Richard Baumhammers was convicted for shooting to death his Jewish neighbor, two Indian men, two Asian men and a black man in 2000. At the time, the shooter was an unemployed lawyer living in his parents' basement. Prosecutors said Baumhammers selected his victims because of their religious or ethnic background.

    Victims: Anita Gordon, 63, Anil Thakur, 31, Ji-Ye Sun, 34, Thao Pham, 27, Garry D. Lee, 22, (and Sandeep Patel, died of gunshot wounds in February 2007 at age 32).

    Bauhammers was sentenced to death in Allegheny County on September 6, 2001.

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    April 25, 2010

    Article Concerning Richard Baumhammers PA DR

    It wasn’t right that Garry Lee, who family members said never raised his voice in anger or uttered a foul word, died in a hail of gunfire, the last person killed in a racially motivated shooting spree that stunned the region.

    Wednesday will mark 10 years since Richard Baumhammers’ killing spree across Allegheny and Beaver counties. Lee, 22, of Aliquippa, was shot to death inside a Center Township karate studio.

    For Garry Lee’s mother, Zetta, the pain of her son’s death has never faded, but as the 10th anniversary nears, she finds it especially difficult to move forward.

    “There’s too much stuff that affects me,” Lee, of Aliquippa, said. “This time of year, I can’t even get up and function like I should.”

    What makes it harder for her is knowing it could take years before Baumhammers, 44, of Mount Lebanon, could face the ultimate punishment. He was sentenced to death in 2002 but is appealing his conviction.

    Lee said she’s tired of seeing her son’s killer in local media, frustrated that the focus has been on him and not the families of those Baumhammers killed.

    “This man, everybody knows he did it. He was caught red-handed. I really don’t see why it has to go through so many (appeals).”

    THE KILLING SPREE

    Baumhammers first shot his Mount Lebanon next-door neighbor to death, then started driving through Allegheny and Beaver counties on that warm spring Friday afternoon. He fired shots at two synagogues, shot two people at an Indian grocery store in Scott Township and then headed to Robinson Town Centre.

    There, Baumhammers walked into the Ya Fei Chinese Cuisine restaurant and opened fire, killing two people before leaving.

    Just before 3 p.m., Baumhammers walked into CS Kim Karate studio in the Center Square shopping plaza, shot and killed Lee, and left.

    Police believe Baumhammers may have been headed to an Ambridge synagogue, but thanks to people at the Center shopping plaza who wrote down his license plate number, he was spotted by police driving at the end of the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge.

    Police believe that Baumhammers specifically targeted his victims and places.

    In 2001, Baumhammers was sentenced to death after a jury trial.

    In January, Gov. Ed Rendell signed an execution warrant for Baumhammers, but on Feb. 26 Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey A. Manning signed an indefinite stay of execution as the appeal process moves on.

    REMEMBERING GARRY

    Garry Lee graduated from Aliquippa High School in 1996. He worked at the Leetsdale Giant Eagle, where his mother still works. He wanted to be a music producer and founded his own company, Militarymind enterprises. He had the company logo tattooed on his left arm.

    Lee said her son would probably have been through college by now and embarking on his music career.

    His sister, La’zett, now 19, is following in her brother’s footsteps. A freshman at Clarion University, she is majoring in communications and mass media arts.

    Lee said Garry’s cherished grandmother, Ruby Lee, died the November after Garry did, and that “she basically died of a broken heart.”

    Lee said that prayers and support of family and friends helps her cope with Garry’s loss.

    Godchildren Marisa and Glenn Surgest and Michelle Oliver, along with their mother, Renee Surgest, check on her constantly. Bishop Melvin E. Clark Sr. of Aliquippa’s Church in the Round constantly offers prayers.

    “I’m just remembering the good parts,” Lee said. “With God on my side, he’s gotten me through all this.”

    THE ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT

    Lee is frustrated that Baumhammers’ appeals will take years.

    “The death penalty is just a big joke,” she said. “Why do they even bother having it?”

    Beaver County District Attorney Anthony Berosh understands her frustration.

    Advertisement Berosh is awaiting the end of death-penalty appeals for Andre Stevens, 65, of Monaca, who shot two people to death in a Rochester Township bar in 1992.

    He said Stevens is an example of how the death penalty appeal process has been “streamlined” at the state and federal levels, though it’s still at a deliberate pace for a reason.

    “It’s the most serious sentence the state can impose,” Berosh said, “and we want to make sure all (defendant) rights have been protected before we take the ultimate step.”

    Berosh’s office is embarking on the first death-penalty prosecution in the county in about a decade.

    On April 7, Berosh announced he would seek the death penalty against Greg Baker, 55, of New Sewickley Township. Baker is accused of shooting his estranged wife, Linda, and Thomas Dougherty in the parking lot of the East Rochester Plaza on Dec. 3, 2009. Dougherty died; Linda Baker has recovered from her wounds.

    Baker’s trial probably will not happen before the beginning of 2011.

    Lee said she’d like to see Baumhammers’ death sentence carried out at some point. The last execution in Pennsylvania was in 1995.

    “Actually, yeah, that way it’ll be over and done with for me,” Lee said.

    “He’s not going to change,” she said. “He’s not going to get better. He will still spread his hate. I don’t have the benefits that he has. He has so much stuff he can do for free now that I have to pay for, and for what?

    “He killed six people, and it’s not just the people that he killed; it’s the families and their friends affected by this,” Lee said.

    DEATH ROW INMATES

    Two inmates on death row are awaiting execution for crimes committed in Beaver County. They are:

    • Andre Stevens, 65, of Monaca.

    In 1992, Stevens walked into a Rochester bar and shot his estranged wife, Brenda Jo Stevens, 28, and off-duty policeman Michael Love, 28.

    In 1993, Stevens was convicted of first-degree murder for both killings and sentenced to death.

    In 2004, a federal judge ruled that Stevens’ constitutional rights were violated during jury selection for his 1993 trial because a potential juror who said she didn’t believe in the death penalty was dismissed. The sentence remains on appeal. Stevens is in state prison in Greene County.

    • Richard Baumhammers, 44, of Mount Lebanon.

    Went on a shooting spree in Allegheny and Beaver counties in April 2000, killing five people and wounding one other, who later died. Among those killed was Garry Lee, 22, of Aliquippa, who was shot to death in a Center Township karate studio.

    In 2001, Baumhammers was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, and sentenced to death.

    Baumhammers’ convictions remain on appeal in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He is in state prison in Greene County.

    BAUMHAMMERS' VICTIMS

    Those shot to death by Richard Baumhammers:

    • Anita Gordon, 63, Mount Lebanon.

    • Anil Thakur, 31, of Bihar, India.

    • Ji-Ye Sun, 34, of Wilkinsburg.

    • Thao Pham, 27, of Mount Lebanon.

    • Garry D. Lee, 22, of Aliquippa.

    • Another victim, Sandeep Patel of India, died of gunshot wounds in February 2007 at age 32.

    GARRY LEE MEMORIAL

    Garry Lee’s mother, Zetta Lee, will host a remembrance service at 6 p.m. Wednesday at his grave in Woodlawn Cemetery in Aliquippa. The public is invited to attend. Zetta Lee said that 50 candles will be distributed with ribbons that read, “Remembering Garry with love.” The service will take place rain or shine.

    http://www.timesonline.com/bct_news/...death-row.html

  3. #3
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On February 25, 2011, Baumhammers filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/pen...v00258/195741/

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    Pittsburgh judge set to hear death penalty appeal on behalf of mass killer Richard Baumhammers

    A Common Pleas judge is set to hear an appeal on behalf of a Pittsburgh-area man on death row for a string of shootings that targeted minorities in April 2000 and eventually left six people dead.

    Forty-six-year-old Richard Baumhammers was an unemployed immigration attorney living with his parents in the upscale suburb of Mount Lebanon when he shot his Jewish neighbor, two Indian men, a Chinese man, a Vietnamese man, and a black man at various locations in the Pittsburgh suburbs.

    Prosecutors said Baumhammers targeted the victims because of their ethnic backgrounds. Five of the victims died that day while a sixth died years later from complications of wounds that had left him paralyzed.

    Monday's hearing concerns his state court appeal. Baumhammers is pursuing a separate appeal of his death penalty in federal court.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...rgh-Shootings/

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    Judge rejects new death penalty trial for Pittsburgh-area man in 2002 ethnic shooting rampage

    A judge has rejected an appeal seeking a new death penalty trial for an unemployed immigration attorney on death row for targeting ethnic minorities in a shooting rampage in 2000 that eventually left six people dead.

    Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning told 46-year-old Richard Baumhammers that he'd issue an opinion explaining his decision sometime next week at the end of a nearly three-day hearing Wednesday.

    Baumhammers' attorney, Caroline Roberto, wanted a new trial claiming attorneys at Baumhammers 2001 trial didn't do enough to counter the "extremely pejorative" testimony of a psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution. Dr. Michael Welner testified then — and reiterated at the hearing this week — that he rejected defense claims that Baumhammers acted due to paranoid schizophrenia.

    Welner says Baumhammers is simply a racist who also happens to have some mental problems.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...wyer-Slayings/

  6. #6
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    PA – Supreme Court Denies Appeal for Murderer of Five Including One Jew

    A man who has been convicted for shooting to death five people in 2000, and is currently facing the death sentence, has just lost his appeal in Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court.

    The high court’s 60-page opinion Tuesday denied the appeal of Richard Baumhammers, currently on death row for the two-hour rampage that also left a sixth man paralyzed. He later died.

    Baumhammers, 49, of Mount Lebanon, started the two-hour crime spree in Allegheny and Beaver counties by shooting and killing a 63-year-old Jewish neighbor and setting her house on fire.

    He then committed five more shootings, all targeting minorities, in a Chinese restaurant and at an Indian grocery. Four of those victims, all men between the ages of 34 and 22, died. The fifth was left a quadriplegic and died nearly seven years later.

    Baumhammers, a former immigration attorney with a history being treated for mental illness, also spray-painted two synagogues with swastikas and the word “Jew,” and fired shots into both buildings.

    The suspect claimed that he was hallucinating during the murder spree and mounted an insanity defense during his trial. His latest appeal was based on his claim that the lawyers were ineffective during his trial for the murders.

    The 49-year-old Baumhammers is currently jailed in Greene State Prison.

    http://jpupdates.com/2014/05/27/pa-s...uding-one-jew/

  7. #7
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On July 30, 2014, Baumhammers filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/pen...cv01022/217845

  8. #8
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    Post #4 above says at the end that he was already pursuing appeals in federal court. Wonder why now he's just filing.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Fact's Avatar
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    It's a delaying tactic they use for a stay of execution and to get appointed federal counsel for use in their second state appeal. The petitions are filed, then usually dismissed without prejudice until the second state appeal is exhausted.
    Last edited by Fact; 08-01-2014 at 01:47 AM.

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    Corbett signs death warrant for Baumhammers


    Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed the death warrant for convicted murderer Richard Baumhammers, who killed 5 people during a racially motivated shooting spree in the South Hills and Beaver County in April 2000.

    Baumhammers, 49, has been on death row in Greene County since an Allegheny County jury gave him 5 death sentences. A 6th victim died of his injuries seven years after the shooting.

    The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3. It is likely to be delayed, however, because of appeals and the state's difficulty in obtaining drugs used in executions.

    Corbett was forced to sign a temporary reprieve for death row inmate Hubert Michael Jr. last month in part because manufacturers stopped selling their drugs to states that used them in executions. Michael was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of Trista Eng, 16, in York County.

    A spokesman for the governor's Office of General Counsel could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Pennsylvania has executed 3 men - all of whom voluntarily ended their appeals - since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The last person executed in Pennsylvania was Gary Heidnik of Philadelphia in 1999 for the kidnap and torture of 6 women, 2 of whom he killed.

    (Source: triblive.com)
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