Already behind bars for life, a Philadelphia man faces another prison sentence after being convicted Thursday in Schuylkill County Court of spitting on a guard last May at State Correctional Institution/Mahanoy.
Hanif A. Chamber, 31, is guilty of aggravated harassment by prisoner, the jury hearing his case ruled after deliberating less than an hour.
Judge Charles M. Miller, who presided over Chamber's one-day trial, found him guilty of a summary charge of disorderly conduct. Miller also ordered preparation of a presentence investigation and scheduled sentencing for 10:30 a.m. March 18.
Chamber, who did not testify on Thursday, returned to prison after the verdict, since he is serving a life sentence for a murder he committed in April 2001 in Philadelphia.
State police at Frackville charged Chamber with spitting on Corrections Officer 2 Brian Gower at 2:20 p.m. May 18, 2012, at the officers' desk in the Fox Alpha Unit at SCI/Mahanoy.
"Mr. Chamber coughed and spit a mouthful of spit in my face and chest," Gower testified. The spit got on his hat, eyeglasses and shirt, Gower said.
Gower said he and Corrections Officer John Cooney chased down Chamber, who had run from the desk after spitting on him, and eventually restrained him for other officers to take away. He said he then went to the prison's medical department and then to Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street for testing.
Cooney testified he also was at the desk when Chamber demanded to be allowed back into his cell following his attendance at Muslim religious services. He said he had just pushed the buzzer to allow Chamber back into his cell when the prisoner spit on Gower.
"It was a lot of spit," Cooney said.
Cooney corroborated Gower's testimony by saying they were able to restrain Chamber before other officers led him away
Kimberly Minarchick, a registered nurse at the prison, testified that she examined Gower.
"He had some water-type marks on his glasses, his hat and his shirt," Minarchick said. She said she recognized it as spit and advised Gower to wash his face immediately.
District Attorney Karen Byrnes-Noon said that even though Chamber already is serving a life sentence, prosecuting him has value.
"If we didn't prosecute anyone who is in jail for life, there wouldn't be any deterrent for them at all," she said.
Corrections officers need to be protected from life prisoners, Byrnes-Noon said.
"We've always prosecuted these ... to have it be a deterrent," she said.
Furthermore, such a prosecution and conviction can be helpful to a future governor who might be asked to commute a life prisoner's sentence, Byrnes-Noon said.
After a four-day trial, a Philadelphia jury convicted Chamber on Nov. 16, 2004, of first-degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license. Senior Judge John J. Poserina Jr., who presided over the trial, sentenced Chamber on Feb. 1, 2005, to life in prison, which in Pennsylvania carries no possibility of parole.
The state Superior Court has twice upheld the conviction and sentence.
Philadelphia police charged Chamber with killing Kassim Short, 20, of Philadelphia, about 4:30 p.m. April 6, 2001, on Montrose Street.Defendant: Hanif A. Chamber
Age: 31
Residence: Philadelphia
Crimes committed: Aggravated harassment by prisoner and disorderly conduct