Convicted killer on death row appeals
Richard Baumhammers, who was convicted in 2001 of killing five people in a racially-motivated shooting rampage, has filed a 184-page appeal listing over a dozen reasons why his rights were violated during trial.
Attorneys filed arguments for the 49-year-old Mt. Lebanon man in part saying the government withheld key evidence until after the trial’s start; that his trial lawyer did not challenge a key witness (a psychiatric expert) on his assertion that Baumhammers was not schizophrenic; and that the state cannot execute mentally ill prisoners, as Baumhammers had claimed during trial.
Gov. Tom Corbett signed Baumhammers death warrant in October, which triggered an automatic federal appeal.
U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer said in the filing the government has until April 13 to respond.