FACTS, EVIDENCE, AND TESTIMONY

NEVER HEARD BY THE JURY 

Newly discovered evidence:

 It was also reported that Mr. Lawrence was “free”.The prosecutor and Mr. Lawrence had both stated during the trial that he would return to New Jersey and serve at least seven years.The prosecutor vouched for his credibility.Within 30 days of my trial, Montgomery County dismissed the armed robbery charge against him.He was also paroled from the armed robbery conviction in New Jersey a month after my conviction and was never criminally charged with the escape.A false representation was made to the jury, which boosted Lawrence’s credibility.All of this was reported to the court on newly discovered evidence and an evidentiary hearing was requested.

            On November 20th, 1980, a hearing was held before Judge Murphy to determine if an evidentiary hearing would be granted on the newly discovered evidence.This was denied.On January 21st, 1981, the following testimony was given by Ms. Greller: “Your Honor, there is something that’s very important to this case and I don’t know why they wouldn’t let me say anything?”Trial Court Opinion

Sentencing:

Judge Murphy stated: “Let her come up and speak”.  Ms. Geller: “Yes, Daniel O’neill, I was very close to him, and he told me before he killed himself that he wasn’t going to let his brother do time for something that he did.  And I was under the impression that I was going to be, you know…somebody was going to talk to me about this.  I offered to take a lie detector test, and nobody ever questioned me or anything about that.  Well, it was in the paper, and they asked me about it, and they said that, you know, I would be hearing from somebody, and I never did.  I don’t know much about the procedure of the courtroom, but I figured they would call me”.

           Mrs. O’neill, mother of Daniel O’neill, also testified to similar statements made by Daniel prior to his suicide.

Judge Murphy stated: “The jury has found him guilty; we are bound by the findings ofthe jury at this stage”. Exhibit O  He then sentenced both defendants, Forbes and myself to a total term of thirty to sixty years incarceration. 

            I asked my attorney, Thomas Ciccone, to appeal my case to the Superior Court.  He may have lacked the knowledge in how to appeal the matter because he merely adopted Forbes’ attorney’s brief, which was designed to defend Forbes’ claims of error, not mine.  It was denied by the court who noted the briefs were identical.  My attorney filed for allowance of appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but was denied review. Trial Court Opinion

                                                Previous   Next