Michael Singley

Case record: Michael Singley

Status and outcome

Michael Singley was sentenced to death on January 31, 2001. The execution was delayed following an order requiring a stay of execution after Singley requested an attorney during a hearing in Williamsport. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed an execution warrant scheduling Singley’s execution for 2006, April 6.

Timeline

• November 1998 — Michael Singley murdered two people in Chambersburg, including the stabbing death of Christine Rohrer.
• November 3, 1998 — Christine Rohrer, 23, was murdered at the couple’s Elder Street home.
• August 2000 — Singley pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the stabbing death of Christine Rohrer.
• A month later (after August 2000) — Franklin County Judge Douglas Herman found Singley guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of James Gilliam.
• January 31, 2001 — A jury sentenced Singley to death for Christine Rohrer’s murder.
• November 2005 — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a writ of certiorari to hear Singley’s case.
• 2006 (month not stated) — Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed an execution warrant.
• 2006, April 6 — The execution was scheduled for this date.

Background

Michael Singley was described as a Chambersburg man. He was 29 at the time of the January 2001 death sentence and at the time of discussion of the execution warrant in 2006.

Singley’s incarceration after receiving the death penalty was at the State Correctional Institution Greene in Waynesburg, Pa. Death row inmates were described as being isolated from the general population and remaining in their cells all but one hour a day for exercise.

The offence

Singley raped Christine Rohrer and bound her with duct tape in her home on election night in November 1998 after he told her he had car trouble and needed to use her phone. He stabbed Christine Rohrer 20 times. After Christine Rohrer’s husband, Travis Rohrer, came home, Singley stabbed and shot him. Travis Rohrer recovered from his wounds.

After leaving Travis Rohrer’s cousin’s home, Singley fired two shots at James Gilliam and his fiancée, Deb Hock. One shot killed Gilliam. Singley fired at Hock but missed. Deb Hock fell to the ground pretending to be dead, according to trial testimony.

Singley was also convicted of stabbing and shooting Travis Rohrer, who survived the attack, and for the attempted murder of Deb Hock.

Investigation and arrests

Chambersburg police described Singley’s conduct, including that he raped and stabbed Christine Rohrer, after binding her with duct tape.

Trial

Singley pleaded guilty in August 2000 to first-degree murder in Rohrer's death and to criminal homicide in the death of James Gilliam. That was followed by a degree of guilt hearing before Franklin County Judge Douglas W. Herman, who found Singley guilty of 1st-degree murder in Gilliam’s death, according to court records.

A penalty phase hearing was held with a jury imposing the death penalty for Rohrer's murder after a week of testimony.

A jury sentenced Singley, now 29, to death in January 2001 for the Nov. 3, 1998, stabbing death of Christine Rohrer, 23, the wife of his cousin, Travis Rohrer, at the couple’s Elder Street home.

Singley was also convicted of 1st-degree murder in the shooting death of Rohrer's neighbor, 39-year-old James Gilliam, and was sentenced to life for Gilliam’s murder.

Sentencing

Singley was sentenced to death for Rohrer's murder.

He also received life in prison without parole for the murder of James Gilliam.

He received up to 94 additional years in prison for attempted murder, rape, criminal trespass and theft.

Appeals

In November 2005, the U.S. The writ was based on an assertion that the victim impact statements by Christine Rohrer's husband and family had violated his rights of due process.

Clinton Barkdoll, the attorney who represented Singley in his appeal to the state Supreme Court, said Singley’s death penalty was affirmed by the Supreme Court about a year earlier. Barkdoll also said that Singley still had federal appeals pending and had not begun to pursue PCRA (Pennsylvania’s Post-Conviction Relief Act) relief, which would typically be the final step once all the appeals were exhausted. Barkdoll said he expected a federal public defender to soon file for a stay of execution, and that the appeals process could go on for years.

During the order affecting the execution, U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones III was required to issue a stay of execution after Singley requested an attorney during a hearing in Williamsport.

Outcome

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed an execution warrant scheduling Singley’s execution for 2006, April 6, but it was described as unlikely the execution would be carried out on that date.

Statements

Franklin County District Attorney John F. Nelson said:

"Based on Pennsylvania's track record, I don't think the odds are real great it will be carried out on that date."

Nelson also said:

"It's hard to imagine an uglier scenario," Nelson said of the case.

Nelson also said:

"There are mixed emotions about the death penalty ... If there's a case that would warrant it, this would be one."

Aftermath

Since receiving the death penalty, Singley was incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution Greene in Waynesburg, Pa.

Death Penalty Information Center information was referenced that Pennsylvania had carried out 3 executions between 1995 and 1999 and had 231 inmates on death row.

Albert Reid, convicted of the 1996 murders of his estranged wife and stepdaughter, was described as the only other person from Franklin County on death row, Nelson said.