Former Eighty Four man given new trial in 30-year-old murder conviction
A federal judge ordered a new trial in the 30-year-old murder conviction of a former Eighty Four man.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti of U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh Wednesday ruled the state must release 57-year-old Thomas Gorby within 120 days or retry him in the 1985 stabbing death of Drayton Sphar, 38, in a parked vehicle outside Somerset Inn in Somerset Township.
Conti said in an opinion Gorby’s attorney proved inadequate by failing to pursue a diminished capacity defense, which would have entailed Gorby admitting to the homicide but disputing whether he formed the intent to kill Sphar, which could have resulted in a different outcome at trial.
“Counsel had sufficient indicia of Gorby’s history of drug and alcohol abuse as well as mental health problems to warrant further investigation; yet, he failed to conduct an investigation from which he could have presented evidence of diminished capacity,” Conti’s opinion stated.
Gorby was convicted in 1986 of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, with another 8 to 16 years for robbing Spahr. He was resentenced to life in prison on the murder charge in 2011 after the state Supreme Court ordered the new sentence because his attorney didn’t raise circumstances about his mental health that could have been a mitigating circumstance against the death penalty.