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Rahmael Holt joins list of Southwestern Pa. men on death row | TribLIVE.com
Valley News Dispatch

Rahmael Holt joins list of Southwestern Pa. men on death row

Brian C. Rittmeyer
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Richard Baumhammers is escorted into court by Sheriff’s deputies for his appeal at the Allegheny County Courthouse on Monday, September 12, 2011. (Tribune-Review file photo)

On death row

There are 136 men on death row in Pennsylvania, including the following from Southwestern Pennsylvania:

ALLEGHENY

• Richard Scott Baumhammers, 54, sentenced in September 2001, convicted of killing five people in 2000 shooting spree.

• Leroy Fears, 57, sentenced February 1995, pleaded guilty to molesting and strangling 12-year-old boy in 1994.

• Anthony James Fiebiger, 56, sentenced March 1999, convicted of strangling ex-girlfriend in 1989.

• Kenneth Hairston, 68, sentenced July 2002, convicted of killing his wife and autistic son in 2001.

• Wayne Cordell Mitchell, 42, sentenced December 1999, convicted of stabbing estranged wife to death in 1997.

• Richard Poplawski, 33, sentenced June 2011, convicted of killing three Pittsburgh police officers in 2009.

• Patrick Jason Stollar, 41, sentenced March 2008, convicted of stabbing 78-year-old woman to death in 2003 robbery.

• Ronald Taylor, 59, sentenced January 2002, convicted of killing three men at his apartment and two fast-food restaurants in 2000.

• Gerald Watkins, 50, sentenced December 1996, convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two children in 1995.

BUTLER

• Donald Mitchell Tedford, 68, sentenced March 1987, convicted of raping and murdering a woman in 1986.

FAYETTE

• Patrick Ray Haney, 35, sentenced March 2014, convicted of beating a 4-year-old boy to death in 2011.

GREENE

• Jeffrey Martin, 62, sentenced September 2008, convicted of raping and strangling 12-year-old girl in 2006.

WASHINGTON

• Jordan Alexander Clemons, 30, sentenced May 2015, convicted of killing his estranged girlfriend in 2012.

• Roland Steele, 73, sentenced March 1988, convicted of murdering three elderly women in 1985.

WESTMORELAND

• Melvin Knight, 30, sentenced November 2018, convicted of torturing and killing a mentally disabled woman in 2010.

• John C. Lesko, 61, sentenced May 1995, convicted of killing four people in late 1979 and early 1980.

• Kevin Murphy, 58, sentenced May 2013, convicted of killing his mother, sister and aunt in 2009.

• Ricky Smyrnes, 33, sentenced March 2013, convicted of torturing and killing a mentally disabled woman in 2010.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.

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