Minerd sentenced to life in prison
PITTSBURGH – A federal jury has sentenced Joseph P. Minerd to life in prison instead of execution for killing his pregnant former girlfriend and her daughter. Minerd, 47, was embraced by his attorney, while his family broke into tears as the sentence was read Thursday before a packed courtroom.
“I want to thank everyone for praying for us,” said a tearful James Minerd Sr. “Please keep praying for us.”
The 10 women and two men on the jury notified the court at 1 p.m. that it had reached a decision after deliberating Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.
Two weeks ago the same panel rendered a guilty verdict against Minerd, convicting him of placing a pipe bomb in the Connellsville apartment of Deana Kay Mitts. The bomb killed Mitts and her 3-year-old daughter, Kayla Ashley Mitts, on Jan. 1, 1999.
Deana Mitts was 8 months pregnant with Minerd’s child at the time of her death.
The government was seeking the death penalty in the case.
Minerd’s legal counsel, Indiana attorney Richard Kammen, said he was relieved the jury had imposed the life sentence.
“This is a huge, huge weight off of everybody’s shoulders,” he said. “The jury was so courageous in their decision.”
Kammen attributed the life sentence to Minerd’s past history that did not include a criminal record.
“They did not judge him on this one terrible incident, but looked at his whole life as (attorney) Jay (T. McCamic) asked them to in his phenomenal closing argument,” he said.
Both Kammen and McCamic were appointed by the court to defend Minerd in the death penalty case.
Testimony offered by the defense during the penalty phase linked a brain injury suffered by Minerd in a July 1997 fall from scaffolding, drug withdrawal and depression to Minerd’s actions in the fatal bombing.
However, during deliberations only one juror agreed that the offense was committed under severe mental or emotional disturbance or that he did suffer a brain injury. The panel unanimously agreed Minerd suffered from depression.
Before determining a sentence, the panel was instructed by Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill to follow a five-step process that included a review, consideration and acceptance of aggravating and mitigating circumstances presented by the prosecution and defense in support of their respective cases.
The jury action on each of the factors was read prior to the sentence.
Kammen speculated Minerd would consider an appeal of the guilty verdict over the next several weeks.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District Mary Beth Buchanan said the life sentence indicated that the panel could not unanimously agree to impose the death penalty.
“The decision whether to impose the death penalty is the most solemn determination that our legal system is called upon to make,” she said following the jury’s decision. “We, as prosecutors, take our role in that process very seriously. This office gave the most careful consideration to its recommendation to the U.S. Department of Justice to seek the death penalty in this case. That recommendation reflected the considered judgment that the circumstances of this horrible offense warranted the most serious punishment under the law.
“We presented those circumstances to the jury, and we are satisfied with the resolution of this case,” she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District Shaun E. Sweeney prosecuted the case while chief criminal prosecutor for the district, Leo Dillon, presented the government’s case in the penalty phase.
Sweeney commended Connellsville Police Det. Lt. Thomas Cesario and U.S. Treasury Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms case agent Robert Miller for their roles in the case.
“If Tom wouldn’t have found the end cap in Deana’s body and turned it over to the ATF, (Minerd) would have walked,” he said. “Joseph Minerd would have gotten away with killing three people.
“We had a very strong circumstantial case because of the forensic work done by the ATF under the direction of Bob Miller.”
Mitts’ parents, Earl and Pauline Mitts, who have been in the courtroom throughout the five-week trial, declined to comment following the jury’s decision.
Earlier, Pauline Mitts said she would be satisfied if Minerd was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
This was the first death penalty case in recent history prosecuted within the western district.
Cohill scheduled a pre-sentencing hearing for Aug. 8 at 9 a.m.
Minerd remains jailed in Allegheny County Prison.