Legal Time Line

Lesko’s case

1981— Following two changes of venue and a mistrial, John Charles Lesko and Michael Travaglia are tried before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Gilfert Mihalich and a jury from Berks County for the murder of Apollo Police Officer Leonard Miller.  The jury finds Lesko and Travaglia guilty of first degree murder and criminal conspiracy on Jan. 30.  On Feb. 3, both defendants are sentenced to death.

— Both defendants are given a life sentence for the killing of William Nicholls by Judge Earl Handler of Indiana Court of Common Pleas.  Sentencing is withheld, allegedly because of an agreement among all parties to keep the conviction from being finalized until after the Miller case in prosecuted in Westmoreland County.

1982 — Lesko and Travaglia receive two consecutive life terms for the killings of Peter Levato and Marlene Sue Newcomer on Feb. 27.  Westmoreland County Common Please Court Judge Charles Loughran says Lesko has a “wicked and depraved heart.”  The judge also orders a 5-10 year term for criminal conspiracy.

— Lesko and another inmate at Graterford Prison escape from their cells on June 12 but are found half an hour later hiding in a hosiery shop on prison grounds.  They are captured without incident.

— Lesko’s direct appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is denied.

— Lesko pleads not guilty to escape charges after having agreed to enter a guilty plea in return for a reduced 1-2 year term concurrent with his present sentence.  He says he had petitioned to represent himself and gives the judge a witness list of three convicted criminals he wants to have subpoenaed in his defense.  The district attorney calls it a ploy to gain release from Graterford’s restricted area.  Lesko refuses to swear on the Bible as he takes the stand and raises his arm with his index and little fingers pointing upward.

1984 — The U.S. Supreme Court denies Lesko’s petition for a writ of certiorari on Feb. 13

— Lesko is granted a hearing on his appeal for a stay of execution on the defense’s grounds that the death penalty “was disproportionate for one found guilty of being an accomplice to a crime committed by another man.”  The appeal also questioned Judge Mihalich’s instruction to the jury to not consider sympathy for the defendants when deciding whether to impose the death penalty.

1985 — Westmoreland County Court denies a petition for post-conviction review on June 11.

— Gov. Dick Thornburgh signs execution warrants for Lesko and Travaglia on Aug. 1.

— The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirms the trial court’s denial of post-conviction relief on Nov. 12.

1986 — Lesko’s petition of a reargument is denied by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on April 2.

— U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch issues Lesko a stay of execution on June 12, saying substantial legal questions were raised in Lesko’s appeals and “irreparable” harm would result unless the merits of the appeals could be considered.  Lesko’s attorney, Rabe Marsh, argues that Lesko’s rights were violated when information about his guilty plea in the Nicholls case was shared with the Westmoreland County jury.

1987 — On. Feb. 23, the U.S. Supreme Court lets stand rulings that Lesko received a fair trial and was properly sentenced to death.

1988 —   On May 2, U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch grants Lesko’s habeas corpus petition and rules that he must be retried within 180 days.  Bloch says juvenile Richard Rutherford’s testimony at the Miller trial testimony about the details of the Nicholls slaying prejudiced the jury’s deliberations in both the conviction and the sentencing.

— The next day, Mihalich, now president judge of Westmoreland County courts, decries the court system for keeping Lesko alive for seven years.  “The entire case is a sad commentary on our entire judicial system.  If it takes seven years and hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars to find out if a convicted murderer of a  policeman and three other persons got a fair trial, something is drastically wrong with our judicial system — especially the appeal process, that now never ends.

                        “The merry-go-round goes ‘round and ‘round, until the convicted criminal catches a brass ring, then he gets another ride around and around and around.  Why does it take seven years?”

— On May 26, state prosecutors ask the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate Lesko’s conviction and death sentence.

— The next day,  U.S. District Judge Bloch suspends his order that had granted Lesko a new trial within 180 days, pending the outcome of the appeal to the Third Circuit.

1989 — In a 2-1 decision, the Third Circuit rules in July that the Rutherford testimony about the Nicholls case is relevant to Lesko’s trail because it shows that Lesko and Travaglia had a motive to kill Miller. The circuit judges order the case back to the Federal District Court to consider the appeals’ other claims.

1990 — The U.S. Supreme Court rejects Lesko’s claim on Jan. 8 that his constitutional rights were violated when the Rutherford testimony was allowed.  On March 1, the same court rules that Pennsylvania’s death penalty is constitutional.

Back in 1985, some friends of slain Apollo police officer Leonard Miller had found the trial and appeals process agonizing and taxing.  They expressed both a sense of relief and closure when Governor Richard “Dick” Thornburgh signed the death warrants of John Lesko and Michael Travaglia, the two men responsible for the “Kill-for-Thrill” spree from Dec. 27, 1979, to Jan. 3, 1980, in which Miller had been shot. details