Feb 3, 2007 By Josh Krysak 6 min read

PITTSBURGH – Testimony from a jailhouse informant against a Hopwood man now on death row for the 1987 murder of a Fayette County woman could result in a new trial pending a ruling from a federal court judge. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas M. Hardiman said he will consider several questions in ruling on a hearing held Friday for Mark Breakiron to determine whether the legitimacy of the two-decade-old testimony of a fellow inmate at the Fayette County Prison could result in a new trial for Breakiron.

Breakiron, 45, was convicted of first-degree murder for beating and stabbing waitress Saundra Martin to death at the former Shenanigan’s Lounge in German Township. Martin was closing up the bar in March 1987 when Breakiron attacked her.

According to her sister, Linda Angel of Uniontown, Martin was working at the bar to pay for school and was completing classes to become a dental hygienist when she was killed.

Breakiron stabbed Martin more than 20 times, cutting her throat and fracturing her skull.

State police found 24-year-old Martin’s body buried in a shallow grave of mud near Lick Hollow State Park in Hopwood.

Breakiron was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1988. He was scheduled for execution in April 2000, but the governor’s warrant for his death was stayed.

On Friday, Breakiron, currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Greene, was not present in court after he waived his right to be at the hearing, according to defense attorneys.

Testimony Friday centered on prosecution witness Ellis Price, who testified during Breakiron’s 1988 trial.

Defense Attorney Stewart Lev alleges that Price, in conjunction with two other convicts, sought a deal from the Fayette County District Attorney’s office for his testimony and near the same time as the offer received an arrest of judgment in an unrelated case involving the shooting of a Fayette County man.

“We came across additional information that Ellis Price approached the commonwealth for benefits in exchange for his testimony,” Lev argued.

But prosecutor Christopher D. Carusone was adamant about the alleged bargain attempt.

“We maintain he did not ask for a deal,” Carusone said.

Lev also argued that another case involving Price, the 1986 assault and robbery of Vincent Sturbutzel in Fayette County, was never tried against Price, who was named as one of the attackers following the assault. The other men, including two of Price’s brothers, were charged and convicted of the attack after charges were filed three years after the assault in 1989.

During testimony Friday, James Francis “Silky” Sullivan, currently in prison for first-degree murder, testified he and Price did write a letter to the district attorney regarding Breakiron’s case.

Sullivan, 59, killed Linda Mae Covach in 1978. He was charged more than 20 years later, after police used his DNA from another conviction and matched it to items taken from the scene of the crime.

Covach’s partially nude body was found Nov. 2, 1978, near the Hutchinson ball field in South Union Township. She had been missing since around 11 p.m. Oct. 31, 1978.

Fayette County prosecutors charged that Sullivan beat her to death that night with a lead pipe.

In testimony Friday, Sullivan, who was charged with third-degree murder in another case in the late 1980s, said he and Price shared a “range” at the Fayette County Prison in 1987 along with Breakiron.

Sullivan said he learned of the details of Breakiron’s case from reading discovery notes shared with him by Breakiron, who Sullivan described as “scared to death on the range,” and said he sought Sullivan’s help in understanding his case.

After reviewing the information and talking with Breakiron – Sullivan, along with Price – and inmate, Clinton Blair, decided to write a letter to then Fayette County District Attorney Gerald Solomon regarding what they had learned from Breakiron.

“We decided to tell Jerry Solomon that Mark Breakiron confessed the crime to us to see what kind of deals they would offer,” Sullivan testified.

Specifically, Sullivan testified that he requested his conviction of first-degree murder be reduced to a third-degree sentence.

He also testified that Ellis Price requested “the moon” in the letter, including overturning a conviction for shooting a Fayette County bartender as well as reducing a prison sentence for his brother, Robert Price.

“I was in a precarious situation,” Sullivan said. “I liked Mark Breakiron and I liked the victim’s brother so I couldn’t really do anything to him.”

Under cross-examination, Sullivan told Carusone that Breakiron, “Never came right out and told me he did it.”

Additionally, Lev called Chris Owen Miller Sr., who is currently serving a life sentence for criminal homicide, to testify Friday.

Miller, who was also an inmate at the Fayette County Prison in 1987, said he knew of the letter that was being crafted by the men and also observed Sullivan and Price working on the draft.

The defense called Ellis Price and his brother, Robert, to testify to their roles in the alleged agreement, to which Robert Price denied any association.

Ellis Price admitted he did conspire with Sullivan to write the letter but never received any information regarding the deal from the district attorney and did not receive any type of benefit from his testimony in the trial.

Price also testified that he wrote a second letter on his own to Solomon following the letter sent in conjunction with Sullivan and Blair, but noted that it too was never responded too.

Solomon, now a Fayette County judge, testified he had no knowledge of the letters and had never discussed a deal with Price.

During the marathon hearing Friday, the state also called former prosecutor and one-time acting district attorney Mark F. Morrison to testify.

Morrison, who was the acting district attorney during Breakiron’s trial, testified he also had no recollection of a letter requesting an agreement with the district attorney from Ellis Price and said that at no time did his office inform Price that he would receive any benefits for testifying in the case.

Additionally, former assistant district attorney and now Fayette County Judge Ralph Warman testified that there was not an agreement between the District Attorney’s office and Price for Price’s testimony in Breakiron’s case.

Fayette County Sheriff Gary D. Brownfield, who was then a state trooper and lead investigator in the case, also testified that at no time was a deal discussed or offered to Price for his testimony on the Breakiron case.

Lev said Breakiron has never denied committing murder but has maintained that he should have been charged with a lesser degree.

Angel, who was at Friday’s hearing in Pittsburgh, said she and the rest of Martin’s family have remained silent following Breakiron’s stay in 2000 but said she intends to speak about her sister and Breakiron following the court proceedings.