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Thread: Allen Wade Gets LWOP in 2014 PA Slayings of Sisters Sarah Wolfe and Susan Wolfe

  1. #11
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    DA finishes first week in Allen Wade death penalty trial

    Pittsburgh - Highlights of week one include surveillance video of a man who prosecutors say is Allen Wade withdrawing $600 from Sarah's Wolfe's bank account from an ATM, and also using Susan Wolfe's debit card to buy cigarettes hours after the two were shot to death.

    Pittsburgh homicide detective Wade Sarver testified he spent over 40 hours reviewing and compiling surveillance videos from businesses near the East Liberty branch of the Carnegie Library, where police found Sarah Wolfe's green Ford Fiesta on February 8, 2014, the day after their bodies were discovered by Sarah's boyfriend.

    Wade is charged with the Feb. 6, 2014 beating and shooting-death of Sarah and Susan Wolfe. In a March 5, 2014 statement Wade said, "I 100 percent innocent," and added that allegations by police that his DNA was found on a pair of gray sweatpants "is a bunch of bull."

    Most of the footage shows a figure dressed in a red jacket with a blue long-sleeve shirt underneath, gray sweatpants and white tennis shoes that have a distinctive flap, walking in the area of the Carnegie Library and the Citizens Bank ATM where the withdrawal attempts were made.

    The Citizen Bank's ATM camera shows a male figure with his face obscured, making repeated withdrawal attempts between 12:44 and 12:53 a.m. on Feb. 7, 2014. A glove covered the man's right hand, but he could be seen putting a receipt into his left hand.

    Justin Hanna an investigator with Citizens Bank told the jury that after several attempts a $600 withdrawal was completed at 12:46 a.m. from Sarah Wolfe's bank account, and several unsuccessful attempts at withdrawing $300 from Susan Wolfe's bank account were made during the same time period at the ATM.

    Video from cameras at a nearby apartment complex and a Target department store show the same figure walking near the library, a Midas Muffler and in front of the ATM.

    A video from an East Liberty Sunoco gas station shows a man wearing a pair of white tennis shoes with what appears to be the same flap, walk into the store shortly after 1:00 a.m. and purchase two packs of Newport cigarettes. Prosecutors allege that Wade made the purchase with Susan Wolfe's PNC Bank debit card.

    Pittsburgh police officer Gregory McGee told the jury Wednesday how he decided to search the area near where Sarah Wolfe’s car was found. “I felt it was a strange area to leave a car and that someone may have fled on foot leaving evidence,” he said.

    Walking down South Whitfield Street near the library, Officer McGee noticed a black knit cap lying on top of some mulch off the sidewalk and about 60 feet down the street he saw a pair of gray sweatpants. Prosecutors allege that Wade was wearing a red jacket, gray sweatpants and white tennis shoes when he killed Sarah and Susan Wolfe.

    Officer McGee told the jury that as he picked up the sweatpants a white business card fell out of a pocket that belonged to Cameron Mager, a social worker who prosecutors allege had been treating Susan.

    Mr. Mager told jurors Thursday the business card was his and testified that he is “100 percent certain” Wade was never his client. He also told the jury that his office phone number and email, which are listed on his business cards, are not publicly available.

    Police also recovered a pair of socks from a trash can near the sweatpants, that prosecutors say has both Wade and Sarah Wolfe's DNA on them. Wade's DNA was also found on the sweatpants prosecutors say.

    Pittsburgh homicide detective George Satler told jurors that Sarah Wolfe’s boyfriend was “extremely cooperative” when he was questioned shortly after he found the bodies of Sarah and Susan Wolfe in the basement of their Pittsburgh home on February 7, 2014.

    Public Defender Lisa Middleman alleged Monday in her opening argument to the jury, that investigators failed to fully investigate Matthew Buchholz’s alibi as to where he was the evening of Feb. 6, the night Assistant District Attorney William Petulla said Allen Wade “savagely” beat Susan Wolfe and shot her and her sister Sarah Wolfe in the head.

    Mr. Buchholz who had been dating Sarah for eight months according to court testimony, provided very detailed information as to where he was at and who he was with that evening detective Satler testified. “He seemed he was mourning the loss of his girlfriend. “

    “Could he have been acting; could he have been lying—yes,” Satler responded on questioning by Ms. Middleman. However, detective Satler maintained based upon his experience and having conducted hundreds of interviews in homicide cases, he believed Mr. Buchholz was being truthful.

    Detective Satler admitted that he had not searched Mr. Buchholz’s car or asked him to provide any receipts from the bar and restaurant Mr. Buchholz said he was at during the time prosecutors say the sisters were killed.

    When he was first interviewed by police during a canvass of the neighborhood Allen Wade was chain smoking Newport cigarettes Pittsburgh police officer Thomas Leheny testified Friday morning.

    Leheny also testified that he saw a pair of white tennis shoes in Wade's home when he spoke to him, however, he was not able to confirm they are the same tennis shoes that are shown in the videos.

    On Friday jurors also heard testimony from Jean-Paul Martin, chief technology officer and co-founder of Alarm.com,, who said records indicate that the front door to the Wolfes' house showed it opened and closed five times between 7:26 p.m. and 9:54 p.m. Feb. 6, 2014.

    The last witness to testify Friday was Doreen Oshlag, Director of Early Childhood Development at the Hilel Academy where Susan Wolfe worked as a teacher's aide. Ms. Oshlag told the jury "If she would have been five minutes late she would have texted me. She was always on time."

    Ms. Oshlag called the police late in the morning on Feb. 6. 2014 because Susan had not called or shown up for work that day.

    The trial is expected to last at least two more weeks and Wade faces the death penalty if convicted.

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/c...article/464893

  2. #12
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Juror in East Liberty sisters' murders sent home for violation

    A juror was sent home Thursday, bringing a halt to deliberations in the trial of Allen Wade, who's accused of killing neighbors Susan Wolfe and Sarah Wolfe in East Liberty.

    The dismissal was prompted by a yet-to-be-explained violation having to do with the jury member's conduct. He was replaced by an alternate and deliberations resumed Thursday afternoon.

    Early in the day, jurors asked the judge for clarification on the legal definition of "reasonable doubt." Later, they requested surveillance video, DNA analysis, and a pen and business card.

    The pen was marked with "Iowa State Prisons", and police say it was found in trash at a Sunoco gas station where the suspect stopped. The business card was found with pants investigators believe the killer ditched after the murders, and had a four-digit number that prosecutors argued could have been the Wolfe sisters' bank pin number written on the back in ink.

    Wade is accused of shooting Susan, 44, and Sarah, 38, at the Wolfes' home on Chislett Street after the women returned from work on Feb. 6, 2014. The prosecution is asking for a guilty verdict of first-degree murder, which would put Wade in prison for life.

    http://www.wtae.com/news/closing-arg...wolfe/39604402
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  3. #13
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    Allen Wade Found Guilty on All Counts in East Liberty Sisters' Slaying

    PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) – The jury has reached a verdict in the trial of a man accused of killing two sisters who lived next door to him in East Liberty.

    Allen Wade was accused of shooting Sarah and Susan Wolfe after they returned from work on Feb. 6, 2014, apparently to steal a bank card.

    This morning Wade was found guilty on all counts

    On Friday, jurors were focused on a pen during deliberations.

    The pen could link suspect Wade to Sarah and Susan Wolfe. But jurors couldn’t see the pen until the defense and prosecution argued before the judge.

    Surveillance video is believed to show the defendant inside a gas station. The same gas station where police found valuable evidence in the trash can.

    Among the items were sweat pants with Wade’s DNA on them and a business card linked to the sisters with four digits written on the back. Digits that officials say could have been an ATM PIN number.

    One of the Allegheny County jurors had to be replaced Thursday after violating an unspecified rule in the jury room.

    http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/...trial-verdict/

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Penalty phase opens in Pittsburgh sisters’ slaying trial

    PITTSBURGH (AP) - The penalty phase has opened in the trial of a Pittsburgh man convicted of first-degree murder in the slayings of his next door neighbors, two sisters of an Iowa state lawmaker.

    Starting Tuesday, the jury will hear opening statements, testimony and a new round of closing argument in the trial of 45-year-old Allen Wade.

    Allegheny County prosecutors say Wade killed Sarah and Susan Wolfe while robbing them of a bank card while burglarizing their home in February 2014.

    Wade will face at least life in prison without parole. But he could face the death penalty if prosecutors can convince the jury that various “aggravating” factors outweigh any mitigating evidence Wade might offer.

    The victims were the sisters of Democratic Iowa state Rep. Mary Wolfe.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...ters-slaying-/

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Pittsburgh jury deciding penalty for Allen Wade in slayings

    It's now up to 12 jurors to decide if Allen Wade will get the death penalty or serve life in prison without parole for the 2014 murders of Susan and Sarah Wolfe.

    Jurors started deliberating in the penalty phase of Wade's trial at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and must decide whether the “aggravating circumstances” of the murders — that there was more than one, that they were committed in the midst of robbing the sisters of their bank cards and that he had a criminal background that included two other robberies at gunpoint — outweigh mitigating factors like his family life, health or other circumstances of the crime.

    Prosecutors said the mitigating factors Wade's family testified to Tuesday — that he was a helpful young man whom they loved — were “ephemeral” compared to the aggravating factors.

    “We are weighing bubbles and boulders,” said Deputy District Attorney Rob Schupansky in his closing remarks to the jury Wednesday. “If you do have to weigh anything, it's not even close.”

    Defense attorney Lisa Phillips said that the Wade family's testimony counts for something, and how much should depend on each juror's judgment. She argued that Wade, 45, had an absent father growing up in Wilkinsburg and a grandmother he may have been closer to than his own mother up until the grandmother's death in 2000. Despite that, he became an attentive father to his daughters and granddaughter, staying in touch even while in prison for the 2002 robberies of a Wilkinsburg PNC Bank and a Robinson Payless, Phillips said. He'd also suffered from diabetes, depression and a head injury in the month before the Feb. 6, 2014, murders.

    “It's up to you as individuals to decide what weight to give it,” she said. “No law says whether it's a boulder or a bubble.”

    Phillips noted that the Wolfe family, in their victim impact statements, said that patriarch Jack Wolfe had sought to instill in his children a sense of kindness, and that the sisters' devotion to social justice would have precluded them from wanting the death penalty, even in Wade's case.

    No one from the Wolfe family said outright in their impact statements whether they were for or against the death penalty. A gag order prohibits them from commenting to the media until the case ends.

    Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward Borkowski said that to impose the death penalty, the jurors would either have to unanimously decide there are aggravating factors and no mitigation, or that the aggravating factors outweighed mitigating factors. If they couldn't unanimously decide that, they'd have to sentence Wade to life in prison without parole. If they became deadlocked, it would be up to the judge to sentence Wade to life without parole.

    Wade's trial began May 2. Jurors deliberated for about 12 hours over three days before convicting him on all counts.

    http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/1...-factors-death

  6. #16
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Wolfe sisters' killer gets life in prison in East Liberty slayings

    By Paula Reed Ward
    The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    For the family of Suzy and Sarah Wolfe, it wasn’t about whether Allen Wade was sentenced to die by lethal injection.

    It was about ensuring that he was locked away forever.

    “This is a person who has a total disregard for human life,” said a sister, Christy Wolfe. “Our only desire was that the defendant not be on the streets. Anymore ever. We as a society recognize that there’s a certain social contract that we all abide by and having the defendant in prison for the rest of his life. We know that he, as an individual, will not have the opportunity to do this to two other women and another family.”

    “He is in prison, and he is marked as a murderer of two women,” added brother Kevin Wolfe. “We’re satisfied.”

    Members of the Wolfe family spoke Thursday after Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski declared a hung jury in the penalty phase of the case against Wade, who was found guilty Monday of two counts of first-degree murder in the Wolfe sisters’ deaths in 2014 in their East Liberty home.

    The panel of seven women and five men then deliberated the sentence for about eight hours over two days, trying to decide whether Wade should go to death row. Just before noon Thursday, Juror No. 7, the foreman, sent a note to the court, declaring the panel deadlocked.

    “It doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to move one way or the other,” it said.

    Attorneys in the case were brought into the courtroom to read the note before Wade or the jurors returned. After defense attorneys Lisa Middleman and Lisa Phillips read it, they hugged each other, shedding tears. They then told Wade’s mother, Vivian Wade, who embraced each of them in the hallway. Ms. Middleman and Ms. Phillips gave the news to a shackled Wade as he was escorted into the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies. He later shook hands with them at the defense counsel table.

    As the judge formally sentenced Wade to consecutive life prison terms, at least one juror cried. There was little reaction from family members on either side.

    After they were released, most jurors did not want to talk extensively, but one offered, “Prayers for the Wolfe family,” while the foreman said he felt that a weight had been lifted and that he was happy to be returning to his family.

    Reached later by phone, Juror No. 4, Gwendolyn Kerr, said the group was split, 9-3, in favor of death. But to give a capital sentence, the jury must be unanimous.

    “One juror was apparently opposed to the death penalty, and that pretty much sealed the deal,” Ms. Kerr said. “There was no way you were ever going to sway the one person, so continuing was pointless.”

    Ms. Kerr said she saw no mitigating evidence for Wade.

    “He had a fine upbringing. He had a lot of love from his family,” she said. “There was no excuse for it.”

    As Wade’s relatives, several of whom sat through the entire trial, filed out of the courtroom, his great aunt, Jeanette Howard, offered apologies to the Wolfe family through tears.

    “We’re sorry,” she said. “We’re so sorry.”

    The Wolfe family appreciated the gesture.

    “They seem to be kind people,” Christy Wolfe said. “They seem very nice. They seem very generous to their view of our family.”

    The Wade family did not speak after the sentencing. Ms. Middleman and Ms. Phillips, who work in the Allegheny County Public Defender’s office, were not allowed to address reporters. Wade, 45, also did not speak but indicated to the court that he would appeal.

    He was found guilty of killing Suzy, 44, and Sarah, 38, on Feb. 6, 2014. Their bodies were found the next day in the basement of their home on Chislett Street. Wade was arrested about a month later — connected to the crime through a trail of clothing, DNA and video surveillance throughout the East Liberty neighborhood.

    Wade struck Suzy repeatedly in the head before, police said, he dragged her into the basement, leaving her nude by the washer and dryer. Sarah, a psychiatrist, returned home later, police said, and was shot in the back of the head and also left in the basement. She was fully clothed.

    Ms. Kerr said for some jurors — including her — the DNA evidence was overwhelming. But it was the black sleeve with what appeared to be white bleach stains on it, visible in a bank ATM video where the killer used the Wolfe sisters’ ATM cards and again in a gas station video where Wade’s face was clear, that convinced her.

    “That was it,” she said.

    Ms. Kerr said jurors were respectful and conscientious throughout their deliberations.

    The Wolfe family noticed.

    “We cannot stress enough how grateful we are for the jury,” Christy Wolfe said. “They clearly put time and attention to this, and that just shows the respect they have for the process, the system and for Pittsburgh.”

    On Wednesday, Christy Wolfe took her niece to Love Front Porch in Homewood, a communal space for art and children. She said it is the kind of place to which her sisters were devoted. After their deaths, the family created an organization, the Susan and Sarah Wolfe Memorial Fund, to raise money for causes they supported. Love Front Porch is one. They also have donated money to an animal rescue center, Love Takes Root in Haiti, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

    Information on the fund can be found at susanandsarahwolfe.com

    “We’ve really worked hard to not focus on my sisters’ deaths, but on their lives,” she said.

    The trial “was something we needed to get taken care of in order to move on from this. But it’s not consolation or closure. It’s just this part is done now.”

    http://www.post-gazette.com/local/ci...s/201605260182

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