Harrell denies charges, faces trial in 2 murders

Marcia Moorre
The Daily Item

July 26, 2008 06:14 am

— SUNBURY -- Michael A. Harrell is denying he killed two people in a city apartment Jan. 18, despite police testimony that he admitted to the double homicide just hours after the shootings.
Following an hourlong preliminary hearing in Northumberland County Court Friday morning, District Judge Carl B. Rice ruled there was enough evidence against Harrell, 39, formerly of 19 Fairmount Ave., Sunbury, to transfer two counts each of criminal homicide and aggravated assault to the Court of Common Pleas.
Harrell is accused of fatally shooting Crystal M. Scholl-Gordon, 24, of Selinsgrove, and David A. Moore, 25, of Sunbury, in a 226 N. Fourth St. apartment.
"He didn't do it," court-appointed defense attorney William J. Miele, of Williamsport, said outside the courtroom.
At the preliminary hearing, state police Cpl. Richard Bramhall Jr. testified that within hours of the 1 a.m. shooting, survivor Amy Baney-Banks identified Harrell as the person who shot Moore and her cousin, Scholl-Gordon, inside her apartment.
Harrell, who was taken into custody on a parole violation after police tracked his footprints from the murder scene to his home about an hour after the homicide, allegedly spoke freely with Bramhall and Sunbury police Det. Christopher Blase.
Bramhall said they told the suspect they knew he was the culprit and "the only thing we didn't know is why."
He said Harrell admitted to killing Moore and Scholl-Gordon following an altercation, but would not say how he killed them.
The investigator said Harrell wrote a terse incriminating statement, but tore it up. Bramhall pieced it back together and asked whether he wanted to write another statement.
In the second statement, Harrell wrote, "I will take the needle. I want to take the needle. Nothing is worth this much grief and pain."
Bramhall said he asked him why he wanted the death penalty and Harrell replied, "Maybe the next life will be better."
He said Harrell did not ask for an attorney during the four-hour police interview and couldn't recall whether the suspect was offered food, beverages or a break.
Under cross-examination, Bramhall said Harrell at first denied killing the pair.
The alleged confession was not videotaped or tape-recorded and Bramhall said he destroyed his original notes.
Miele asked whether Harrell was told his girlfriend, Melissa Ranck, with whom he lived at 19 Fairmount Ave., would lose custody of her children or face legal trouble unless he gave police a statement about the homicide.
Bramhall said he did not mention Ranck.
Outside of court, Miele questioned the veracity of the confession.
"I find it troubling that in 2008, in a double homicide, there is no videotape or audiotape of the alleged confession," he said. "Most police departments do that in a double homicide. We don't even have the original notes."
The chief public defender in Lycoming County, Miele and his law partner, Edward J. "E.J." Rymsza, were appointed by the court to represent Harrell, who may face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.
Charles Scholl said he told District Attorney Anthony Rosini that he doesn't want the person who killed his daughter to be put to death.
"I was all for the death penalty before, but I think it's too easy," Scholl said, adding he expects Harrell will fight hard for his freedom.
"He's going to fight, but he's not going to walk away," the grieving father said confidently.
Moore's mother, Kim Potter, of Gaithersburg, Md., was unable to attend the hearing, but said she also favors a life sentence for the killer.
"Killing him won't bring my child or Crystal back," she said.
Northumberland County Coroner James F. Kelley testified that the two victims were each shot seven times.
Photographs of the murder scene at 226 N. Fourth St. were shown in court, including pictures of blood spatter and smears on the walls and numerous gun shell casings.
Moore was shot in the kitchen and died sprawled face-down on the kitchen floor.
A photograph of Scholl-Gordon, slumped against a door of a second-floor bedroom, clearly showed a bullet hole in the young woman's left hip. Another autopsy photo revealed a bullet wound to the face.
A taped phone call to Northumberland County's 911 center shortly after 1 a.m. on Jan. 18 from a breathless Baney-Banks alerted authorities to the homicide.
Calling from a neighbor's home, Baney-Banks repeatedly urged the operator to "hurry" and send help.
City police officer Vernon Petty said when he arrived at the site of the slayings minutes later there was a "haze" of smoke and strong smell of gunpowder inside the apartment, but no weapons.
City police officer Scott Hause testified about finding one set of footprints in the snow outside the North Front Street apartment.
Hause and a K-9 unit tracked the footprints from the apartment to Eighth and Race streets, where former Lt. Sheriff Deputy Wade Lytle and his K-9 joined the search.
Lytle said he was led by the dog to the porch of 19 Fairmount Ave., where Harrell was taken into custody without incident at about 2:30 a.m.
Sunbury police officer Bradley Hare said that as he drove Harrell the short distance to the police station that morning, the defendant asked why he was in custody.
"All I did was break her (expletive) jaw, and I'm in custody for that," Harrell allegedly said.
There was no testimony about the weapon used in the slayings, although court documents described it as a .30-caliber rifle.
Harrell was brought into the courtroom with his arms and legs shackled, his orange prison pants pulled up to his knees.
He was subdued throughout the hearing, taking notes and conferring with his attorney.
It was a marked change from prior court appearances when he spat at a television reporter and spoke out defiantly and sarcastically in court.
Because of his earlier behavior, court officials decided more security was needed for the preliminary hearing and moved it from Rice's 609 Market St. office to the courthouse.
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