DNA testing will not clear man of 1986 murder for which he spent 17 years in jail, AG says – PennLive

Posted: August 6, 2021 at 10:20 pm

SUNBURY The DNA testing sought by a Northumberland County man would not clear him of a 1986 murder for which he claims he was wrongly convicted, the prosecution contends.

Deputy Attorney General Christopher J. Schmidt on Monday asked Superior Court to affirm a lower court decision and deny the DNA testing sought by Scott R. Schaeffer.

Schaeffer is appealing the decision of specially assigned Lycoming County Senior Judge Dudley N. Anderson denying his request for DNA testing of certain evidence related to the murder of Rickey Wolfe, 30, of Mifflinburg.

The judge ruled Schaeffer, of the Sunbury area, failed to make a prima facie showing that the DNA testing he requested would establish actual innocence.

Wolfes body was found face down in a pool of blood near his car Dec. 12, 1986, at a state Fish Commission boat ramp along the Susquehanna River north of Montandon.

He was one of five men charged (two were acquitted) with beating Wolfe while he was blindfolded, on his knees and with his hands secured behind him. Authorities cited drug debts as the motive.

Schaeffer was convicted in 1991 of first-degree murder and other charges in the beating death of Wolfe.

His conviction and that of William Lloyd Hendricks III were vacated after co-defendant Robert Eugene Hummel said he lied under pressure from state police when he testified he was present when Wolfe was killed.

Schaeffer and Hendricks in 2004 pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Each was re-sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years probation.

Although Schaeffer had served the minimum he remained in jail two more years for a total of 17 before being paroled. He maintains he accepted the plea offer to get out of prison.

Schmidts brief opposing the DNA test mirrors arguments he made previously that include the request is untimely, the results would not clear Schaeffer and by pleading no contest he did not admit guilt.

He noted Schaeffer did not request DNA testing before he entered the no-contest plea in 2004 but waited until late 2018.

Further, he argues, Schaeffer would not be exonerated if testing reveals DNA of co-conspirators or accomplices were on objects found at the murder scene.

Should Superior Court affirm Anderson on the DNA testing, Schaeffer asks the case be remanded to Northumberland County for an evidentiary hearing on what he claims is new evidence.

Schmidt also opposes that, saying the assertion Wolfe was murdered by or at the behest of two men not charged in the case is not record-based.

Schaeffer had the opportunity to present this evidence at a Nov. 6, 2019, hearing but did not nor did he request an additional hearing, he said.

Schaeffers claim that sales slips purportedly show he and an ex-girlfriend were shopping in the Harrisburg area the day Wolfe was killed is not new as the defense introduced them at the 1990 trial, Schmidt noted.

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DNA testing will not clear man of 1986 murder for which he spent 17 years in jail, AG says - PennLive

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