Saying his civil rights were trampled, a federal judge on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions and death penalty imposed on a Harrisburg man for the fatal shootings of two men inside a city bar.
The ruling by U.S. Middle District Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner comes 17 years after a Dauphin County jury found Samuel Randolph guilty of killing Thomas Easter and Anthony Burton and severely injuring several other people at Todd and Pat’s Bar on Sept. 19, 2001.
Investigators said the killings came after Randolph committed two unsuccessful drive-by shootings that were prompted by a fight between Randolph, Easter and another man at another Harrisburg bar 18 days earlier.
Conner found that Randolph, now 48, deserves a new trial because he was the victim of an inflexible court schedule during his first trial in 2003.
In short, Conner found Randolph was denied the right to be represented by the attorney of his choice when a county judge refused his request to delay the start of his 2003 trial so his newly-hired lawyer could prepare.
Several delays had already been granted in the case and Randolph had a severe conflict with the attorney who originally had been appointed to represent him, the federal judge wrote. Yet another delay should have been approved to safeguard Randolph’s rights after his new private attorney sought to take over days before the trial was scheduled to start, Conner found.
Instead, Randolph was represented at trial by the appointed attorney with whom he was at odds, Conner noted. Then, after being found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, Randolph said he didn’t want that lawyer to represent him during the penalty phase of his trial. He was allowed to represent himself, presented no arguments and the jury handed down the death verdict.
Randolph’s initial appeals to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court failed.
In addressing Randolph’s latest appeal, Conner found the denial of Randolph’s constitutional right to the attorney of his choice was especially dire because “this case was not a run-of-the-mill criminal prosecution. Randolph was facing the death penalty for not one, but two counts of first-degree murder.”
He found there was “not a single countervailing reason” for the denial of Randolph’s final request for a delay of his 2003 trial. Indeed, Randolph’s new lawyer had sought only a three-hour delay in the start of jury selection, Conner noted. There was “no objectively valid reason” for rejecting that request, since such a delay would hardly have upset the county court’s schedule, he wrote.
Conner gave prosecutors 90 days to determine whether to retry Randolph. District Attorney Fran Chardo said he is still reviewing Conner’s decision to determine a course of action.
Conner’s ruling could be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.