Judge: Staton not fit to waive appeals

Former city man faces death penalty in killing of estranged girlfriend

A federal judge has determined that a former Altoona man on death row for killing his estranged girlfriend in 2004 is no longer competent to represent himself in his ongoing appeal of a first-degree muirder conviction.

On June 1, 2006, Andre Staton, now 60, was sentenced for the stabbing death of Beverly K. Yohn as she was preparing to send her children to school.

Yohn, 26, a week before her death on Feb. 25, 2004, had obtained a protection-from-abuse order prohibiting Staton from contacting her.

Staton, upset by Yohn's complaint, burst into the home where she was staying early in the morning and stabbed her multiple times.

Staton then fled to his native Baltimore where, within days, he was arrested.

A jury convicted him of first-degree murder on May 2, 2006.

The jury, after a penalty phase hearing, recommended he be sentenced to death.

He initially appealed his conviction and death sentence in the state courts, but on July 20, 2015, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied his final post-conviction petition.

In July of that year, he took his case to the federal court in the Western District of Pennsylvania where it was assigned to U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti.

She has been presiding over the case since 2015.

During the federal phase of the case, Staton's death penalty sentence had been stayed pending the outcome of his ongoing appeals.

Staton, upon filing a federal petition to overturn his conviction and death sentence, sought the appointment of counsel, but he eventually rejected representation by the Capital Federal Habeas Corpus Unit of the Federal Public Defender's Office, blaming it for the loss of his appeal at the state level.

The federal judge appointed Pittsburgh attorney John A. Schwab, who filed an 85-page appeal.

Staton proclaimed that Schwab did so without his permission and was upset that it was a mere reflection of the appeal suggested by the Public Defender's Office.

His federal appeal, however, changed dramatically on April 24, 2018, when he filed a "declaration" stating he "knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waive my Constitutional rights afforded me by these United States, and forgo any and all penalty phase mitigation within the Capital case appeal process."

His declaration giving up any appeal to his death penalty sentence led the federal judge on May 4, 2020, to order that Staton undergo a mental health evaluation "to determine his competency to waive penalty phase claims."

Staton's appeal has been held up for the past three years in an effort to determine his competency.

The defense and prosecution both sought experts to evaluate Staton.

Dr. Daniel Murrie of the University of Virginia's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy was hired by the defense while Dr. Steven E. Samuel, a psychologist associated with the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, was hired by the prosecution (led by Blair County District Attorneys Richard Consiglio and now Pete Weeks).

According to a summation submitted by Schwab after a status conference on July 7, both experts agreed Staton suffers from mental disease and a mental defect.

Murrie concluded Staton's mental disease "greatly constrains his ability (to make) rational choices among his options."

Samuel, according to the summation, also found Staton's "mental disease or defect prevents him from understanding his legal position and options available to him."

The recommendation was that the judge find Staton not competent to waive any penalty-phase claims as he has requested on three separate occasions.

Conti in a July 25 order stated: Staton does not have the ability to consult with counsel; does not have a factual understanding of the nature and consequences of his decision, and is not competent to waive his penalty phase claims.

With that decision, Conti placed the Staton appeal back on track.

A second order on July 25 stated that the defense is to prepare an amended appeal on Staton's behalf by March 1, 2024. The prosecution has until May 30, 2024, to answer the new petition.

One of the questions to be answered in future proceedings is whether an evidentiary hearing will be sought.

The Staton appeal, while convoluted, shows the time and intensity involved in seeking a sentence of death in Pennsylvania.

Three inmates from Blair County are presently facing the death penalty, including Staton, William L. Wright III, 60, convicted of murdering James Mowery on Thanksgiving morning, 1998, and Miguel Padilla, 43, who killed Al Mignogna and Fred Rickabaugh, officials of the UVA Club on Union Avenue, and a club patron, Steven Heiss, following a dispute on Aug. 28, 2005.

All three are inmates of the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix in Montgomery County.

Wright, like Staton, declared, "I forgo any and all appeals...and wish to proceed forward with lethal injection in accordance with the jury's verdict."

He was declared incompetent to represent himself by Blair County Senior Judge Hiram A. Carpenter.

Carpenter's finding was upheld in the federal court.

Padilla has filed a federal appeal which has been stayed pending the outcome of his state appeals.

Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan has ordered that Padilla file an amended appeal by Aug. 31.

DA Weeks last week announced he will seek the death penalty stemming from the recent death of 42-year-old Christopher Helsel of Altoona.

Helsel died this year after allegedly being stabbed multiple times by Raymond Oechsle, 51.

Weeks, who supports the death penalty in certain cases, pointed out that Gov. Josh Shapiro has stayed all executions in Pennsylvania.

With respect to the Staton case, he commented that the ruling by Conti finding Staton incompetent certainly puts an impediment toward carrying out the death penalty irrespective of Shapiro's declaration.