Death Penalty

A man accused of killing his 70-year-old mother entered not guilty pleas Wednesday to five criminal charges, including first-degree murder and second-degree murder. Marcus Wallace, 40, entered the pleas during a half-hour mandatory arraignment before Judge Richard Walsh in Franklin County (Pa.) Court. In addition to the murder charges, Wallace faces counts of burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Consuella Wallace suffered a depressed skull fracture after someone made forcible entry in a window of her Hamilton Township, Pa., home on Dec. 10, 2009, and attacked her. She died in February 2010.

The Franklin County (Pa.) District Attorney's Office Wednesday morning filed the necessary legal documents to seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing his mother. Marcus Wallace, 40, is charged with both first- and second-degree murder in the death of his mother. Consuella Wallace, 70, suffered a depressed skull fracture after someone made forcible entry in a window of her Hamilton Township, Pa., home on Dec. 10, 2009, and attacked her. She died in February 2010.

The father of Angela Kay Devonshire, a 22-year-old Bunker Hill, W.Va., woman who was slain in June 2010, told West Virginia lawmakers that his visit to the state Capitol complex in Charleston on Tuesday was for justice. "My heart is shattered and broken, and I'm trying to find a way to put it back together," Sidney Devonshire said in a public hearing that was broadcast live from the House chamber via the Internet. Devonshire was among several people who spoke in favor of House Bill 2526, legislation that proposes the reinstatement of the death penalty for first-degree murder cases in West Virginia.

Democrats in Annapolis are trying again to repeal Maryland's death penalty. Delegates and senators announced Thursday that they're resubmitting a bill to end capital punishment in Maryland, which has five people on death row. One repeal advocate, Del. Anne Healey, D-Prince George's, also said the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has withdrawn proposed death-penalty procedures from review. Sodium thiopental, a drug Maryland and other states use as part of the lethal-injection process, is no longer available in the United States.

"I know I will get some nasty feedback on this call, so bring it on. Guns have no use in our society. This is not the old West. The only ones toting a gun should be a police officer. " — Clear Spring "Why do they have to keep inviting these celebrities to these state dinners? Why don't they invite some ordinary Americans? After all, we're the ones who are footing the bill for all this. And also the awards they give out to these celebrities, let's give them out to some real honest-to-goodness people, like teachers, law enforcement people, and soldiers and Marines and sailors, ones who really deserve it. " — Brightwood Acres East "I'm calling about the death penalty.

Christopher Lynn Johnson, the Fairfield, Pa., man accused of killing Pennsylvania Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove, winked at someone Friday morning as he left the Adams County courtroom where he had just been officially notified that the state willseek the death penalty. Assistant Public Defender Kristin L. Rice entered a plea of not guilty on her client’s behalf during his mandatory arraignment before Common Pleas Court Judge Michael A. George. Johnson, 27, is charged with first-degree murder, illegal possession of a firearm and other charges in the Nov. 11, 2010, shooting death of Grove, 31, the first Pennsylvania Game Commission officer killed in the line of duty since 1915.

A Fairfield, Pa., man accused of the November slaying of a Pennsylvania wildlife conservation officer had just been officially informed that prosecutors would be seeking his execution, but Christopher Lynn Johnson smiled slightly and winked at a woman as he was escorted from an Adams County courtroom Friday morning. Johnson, 27, entered a plea of not guilty during his mandatory arraignment before Common Pleas Court Judge Michael A. George. Johnson is charged with first-degree murder, illegal possession of a firearm and other charges in the Nov. 11, 2010, shooting death of David L. Grove, 31, the first Pennsylvania Game Commission officer killed in the line of duty since 1915.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A State Line, Pa., man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to criminal homicide in the April 3 stabbing death of a Hagerstown woman. Jeffrey Eldon Miles Sr., 47, entered the plea during his arraignment before Judge Douglas Herman in Franklin County (Pa.) Court. Pennsylvania State Police allege Miles stabbed Kristy Dawn Hoke, 29, and left her body in the woods off East Ninth Street in Waynesboro on Easter weekend. The Franklin County District Attorney's Office has filed paperwork necessary for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.