by peter e. bortner
The Berks County man serving state prison time for killing an Orwigsburg man in 2004 in a Minersville housing project made another bid for a new trial Thursday in Schuylkill County Court, presenting a witness who said he took a gun from the victim after the shooting.
"I took it," Kelvin Robertson told President Judge William E. Baldwin as Desmond M. Hammond watched. "I left the next day."
Clad in leg shackles, handcuffs, a belt and a prison jumpsuit, Hammond, 29, of West Reading, did not testify during the one-hour hearing, instead presenting Robertson as his only witness to support his claim for a new trial based on new evidence.
Hammond also listened to two state police corporals testify that Robertson never mentioned during their interviews with him that Clinton W. Hallick had a gun.
Baldwin did not rule at the end of the hearing, instead giving Jay M. Nigrini, Reading, Hammond's lawyer, 30 days to file a brief outlining reasons why his client should get a new trial and Assistant District Attorneys A.J. Serina and Douglas J. Taglieri 10 days after that to file a reply.
Hammond is serving nine to 20 years in a state correctional institution for the March 12, 2004, murder of Hallick, 20, in the parking lot of the Sunbury Street Housing Project just outside Minersville in Cass Township. Hammond is serving his sentence at SCI/Mahanoy.
State police at Frackville charged Hammond with shooting Hallick after they had been involved in a fight at the now-closed Live Wire nightclub at Schuylkill Mall.
A county jury convicted Hammond on March 24, 2005, of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, possessing instruments of crime and recklessly endangering another person. Baldwin, who presided over the six-day trial, imposed the sentence on Hammond on April 24, 2005.
Also wearing leg shackles, handcuffs, a belt and a prison jumpsuit, Robertson, who is serving eight to 16 years at SCI/Coal Township for drug offenses, said he saw Hallick shortly after he was shot.
"(Hallick) was laying down behind the building. He said, 'That (guy) just shot me,' " Robertson testified.
Hallick had a titanium .38-caliber handgun, Robertson said - testimony he had not given before and the basis of Hammond's request for a new trial.
"This is something that I can make right," Robertson said when asked by Nigrini why he was saying this for the first time. "It's something that needs to be done."
Robertson said that as he was returning to Philadelphia after the shooting of Hallick, he threw the gun out the window of the car in which he was riding on Interstate 476.
When cross-examined by Serina, Robertson said he never told police about the gun even though they interviewed him several times.
"You didn't tell them what you're telling us today?" Serina asked Robertson, who testified for the prosecution during Hammond's trial.
"No, I didn't," he answered.
State police Cpl. Kevin O'Brien and Cpl. Andrea Young each testified that Robertson never said he had taken a gun from Hallick at the scene of the killing.
Also, O'Brien testified Robertson never said he saw Hallick after the shooting, while Young said he never said he saw Hallick's body. Each also denied ever telling Robertson what to say.
Thursday's hearing represents the second time Hammond has sought a new trial.
On June 28, 2007, Baldwin ordered a new trial for Hammond, ruling that Nigrini had been ineffective for not calling Achille Walker as a witness to bolster Hammond's claim that he shot Hallick in self-defense.
However, in 2008, a three-judge state Superior Court panel overturned Baldwin's ruling and reinstated Hammond's conviction, ruling Nigrini had a good reason not to call Walker as a witness.Defendant: Desmond M. Hammond
Age: 29
Residence: West Reading
Crimes committed: Third-degree murder, aggravated assault, simple assault, possessing instruments of crime and recklessly endangering another person
Prison sentence: Nine to 20 years in a state correctional institution