A Philadelphia murderer received another sentence Tuesday on Schuylkill County Court for spitting on a guard at State Correctional Institution/Mahanoy.
However, Hanif Chamber, 31, will not spend more time behind bars, since he already is serving a life sentence for the killing that put him behind bars in the first place.
"You have to respect the officers there," Judge Charles M. Miller told Chamber before imposing the sentence, which he made consecutive to the life sentence. "They have a tough job."
Miller also sentenced Chamber to pay costs and $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
A jury deliberated less than an hour on Feb. 7 before convicting Chamber of aggravated harassment by a prisoner. Miller, who presided over Chamber's one-day trial, found him guilty of disorderly conduct.
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.
Chamber said nothing during Tuesday's hearing. His lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, told Miller that whatever occurred will not have much effect on Chamber.
"He's a life prisoner," Watkins said. "Whatever the court sentences him will have some impact, but not much."
First Assistant District Attorney Thomas J. Campion Jr. said that even though Chamber already is serving a life sentence, his prosecution still was necessary.
"Otherwise, there's no deterrent for life prisoners to behave," he 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.