House sitter from Devon was slain in West Vincent
Sunday, August 15, 2010
BY MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN, Staff Writer
WEST CHESTER — The man who authorities allege strangled a Devon woman who had broken off a relationship with him will not face the death penalty in his upcoming trial on murder charges.
A prosecutor in the case told Judge Howard F. Riley Jr., who is presiding over the case against Randall Harner, that his office had decide to remove the possibility of a death penalty trial "in the interests of moving the case forward."
"We do not want to delay this case any further," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Miller in a brief proceeding Thursday in Common Pleas Court.
Harner is accused of the August 2008 murder of Deborah French, a Devon woman who was house sitting for friends in West Vincent when she was killed. Police contend that Harner, 51, of Girardville, Schuylkill County, broke into the house and used a bungee cord to strangle French, who had dated him briefly but who had called off the relationship.
Harner made no statement about the prosecution's move, and continued to complain that Riley was forcing him to represent himself against his will. Harner earlier this year said he did not want to be represented by First Assistant Public Defender Nathan Schenker, who he said disagreed with him on how to best defend his case.
"I want to get to trial," Harner told Riley. "I am not qualified to do this, but because it is what you guys are forcing on me, I would like to have it done as soon as possible. You give me a date and I'll be here."
Riley has scheduled the trial to begin on Nov. 1.
In an interviewn Friday, Miller said he had discussed the decision to remove the death penalty with members of French's family, including her ex-husband and their children, and they had approved the decision.
"Our office takes very seriously our responsibility with respect to the death penalty," said Miller, one of a handful of prosecutors in Chester County who has won a death-penalty verdict in court. "We want to make certain that it is applied fairly and appropriately."
"As this case has progressed through the system, it has taken an unfortunately long time to reach trial," Miler said. "We made the decision to withdraw our recommendation for the death penalty based upon our desire to achieve a resolution of the case in an appropriate time frame."
Miller indicated that among the concerns the prosecution has is whether Schenker could continue to act as Harner's "stand-by counsel" if the death penalty was at stake. Earlier this month, Miller and Schenker met behind closed doors with Riley to discuss whether Schenker could act in such a capacity.
"Our hope is that (the decision to withdraw the death penalty) will alleviate any concern of Mr. Schenker's ability to assist (Harner)" Miller told Riley on Thursday.
Miller declined to comment Friday about what he, Schenker and Riley had discussed. Attempts to reach Schenker for comment were unsuccessful.
"We are hopeful and confident that this will now enable us to reach the proper conclusion of the case in a more appropriate time frame than otherwise possible," Miller said.
In Pennsylvania, the death penalty can only be sought in first-degree murder cases, when the prosecution proves that a homicide was committed intentionally and with malice. Then, one of 18 aggravating circumstances must be proved at trial, and a separate penalty phase is heard by a judge or jury to determine whether those factors outweigh any mitigating circumstances.
In Harner's case, the prosecution alleges he killed French while committing a separate felony, that of burglary. To remove the death penalty, Miller technically withdrew the aggravating circumstance that had been filed at his formal arraignment while retaining the charge of burglary.
Harner is facing a general charge of homicide, which includes first- and third-degree murder as well as burglary, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and possession of an instrument of crime.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Harner faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
According to authorities, on Aug. 17, 2008, French was house sitting at a home of friends on South Chester Springs Road. Harner drove to the house in his 1992 Dodge sedan and about 9:30 a.m. broke into the house through a front glass door and strangled French, but not before she placed a 911 emergency call.
According to authorities, Harner was found by Upper Uwchlan police in a yard outside the house where French was discovered dead. In his pocket, police found a bungee cord that a forensic pathologist later found contained French's DNA.
Later, when a Chester County detective told Harner that he believed that he had killed French, Harner admitted as much.
"I did," he responded, records state.
Harner fired Schenker in February after complaining that the veteran defense attorney was not following the tactic that he wanted to pursue in the case.
"I don't even want him as (standby) counsel," Harner said of Schenker. "I don't trust him. He's conceding my guilt, and I'm not conceding."
On Thursday, Riley dismissed another request by Harner to appoint West Chester attorney Samuel Stretton to represent him.
Riley also cautioned Harner not to think he might win an appeal by remaining silent through the course of the trial.
"I am warning you," Riley said. "Don't count on sitting mum through the whole trial and thinking you are going to get a new trial on appeal. That's a gamble."
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan, send an e-mail to mrellahan@dailylocal.com.
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