Mark Spotz

Case record: Mark Newton Spotz

STATUS / DISPOSITION

Mark Newton Spotz was sentenced to death on April 24, 1996.

The offence

Mark Newton Spotz was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death following a capital jury trial.

The jury found three aggravating circumstances and two mitigating circumstances, and also found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances; accordingly, it returned a sentence of death. Post-verdict motions were denied and the trial court imposed the death penalty.

First-degree murder convictions and victims

Spotz was convicted of first-degree murder for the fatal 1995 carjacking of Penny L. Gunnet, 41, of York New Salem.

Spotz was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for killing June Rose Ohlinger, 52, of Schuylkill County, and Betty Amstutz, 71, of Cumberland County, during the same 48-hour period in February 1995.

The killings were preceded by Spotz shooting and killing his brother, Dustin Spotz, during a family argument.

Killing of Betty Amstutz (February 2, 1995)

On February 2, 1995, Spotz arrived in Harrisburg after committing multiple homicides in other Pennsylvania counties.

Spotz abducted the elderly Betty Amstutz at or near her home in Harrisburg. Over the next few hours, Spotz drove to various places with Amstutz being held hostage, obtaining money, clothing, and lodging by use of her credit card and checking account.

At 3:59 p.m., a bank employee in Harrisburg cashed a $500 check for Amstutz, who was accompanied by Spotz; a bank security camera filmed the transaction. At approximately 5 p.m., an employee of a sporting goods store in Cumberland County sold Spotz and Amstutz $262.05 worth of Orlando Magic products purchased with a credit card belonging to Amstutz. At 5:26 p.m., an employee of a Camp Hill bank cashed another check in the amount of $1,139.95 for Spotz and Amstutz, and a bank security camera filmed that transaction as well. At 6:04 p.m., Spotz and Amstutz checked into the Knight's Inn in Carlisle, Pennsylvania using Amstutz's credit card.

Later that evening, a woman and her daughter were driving on McClures Gap Road in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where they saw a white male standing near a car matching the description of the vehicle owned by Amstutz. The car was parked at the location where Amstutz's lifeless body was discovered the next day.

That evening, Spotz, Charles Carothers, and Michelle Rhinehart (the mother of Spotz's two children) invited Rhinehart to join Spotz in his room at the Knight's Inn in Carlisle. In the room, Spotz, Carothers and Rhinehart smoked crack cocaine purchased by Spotz. Spotz gave $200 cash to Rhinehart and gave Amstutz's car to Carothers. Carothers left Rhinehart and Spotz in the hotel room and drove in Amstutz's car to the apartment of Rhinehart's sister and her friend.

The next morning, an employee of a tree service accidentally discovered Amstutz's body on the side of McClures Gap Road and contacted local authorities. Police investigated the scene and broadcast information concerning Amstutz's missing vehicle. Later that morning, Rhinehart's sister and her friend were en route to the Knight's Inn to pick up Rhinehart and Spotz, at Carothers' request. Police stopped them because their vehicle matched the description of Amstutz's vehicle. Police learned from the two women that Spotz was staying at the Knight's Inn.

Thereafter, a police team surrounded Spotz's hotel room and, after a lengthy standoff, Spotz finally tossed his silver nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol outside of the hotel room, surrendered and was arrested.

A subsequent search of the hotel room yielded a pair of bloodstained jeans, a knife, nine-millimeter full metal jacket ammunition, and five credit cards issued in the name of one of Spotz's previous murder victims, Penny Gunnet. A note written by Spotz was recovered itemizing the money Spotz had stolen and his expenditures on crack cocaine and other purchases. At the bottom of the note, Spotz wrote: "a good day's work."

An autopsy performed on Amstutz showed that she had been shot nine times, including one lethal shot through the neck and another lethal shot to the head. A ballistics test showed that the full metal jacket bullets recovered at the scene of the murder and from Amstutz's body matched Spotz's handgun. Spotz's fingerprints were found on Amstutz's vehicle, and an analysis of blood found on Spotz's shoe was consistent with Amstutz's blood.

Investigation

Christina Noland established the chain of events that led to Spotz's presence in Harrisburg and his motive for abducting and executing Amstutz.

On January 31, 1995, Noland and Spotz fled from Spotz's mother's home in Clearfield County after Spotz shot his brother, Dustin, during a family fight. In need of a vehicle to escape, Spotz and Noland abducted June Ohlinger in Schuylkill County, stole her car and later murdered her. The two then fled to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, in Ohlinger's car, where they attempted to alter their appearances. Noland and Spotz then returned to York County, Pennsylvania, where they abducted Penny Gunnet, stole her car, and murdered her. Following this murder, Noland and Spotz became separated and Noland returned to the home of a friend.

Arrest and surrender

Police surrounded Spotz's hotel room at the Knight's Inn and, after a lengthy standoff, Spotz tossed his silver nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol outside of the hotel room, surrendered and was arrested.

Trial

Jury trial and verdict

After a capital jury trial commenced on May 9, 1996, Spotz was convicted of first-degree murder.

At the penalty phase, the jury found three aggravating circumstances and two mitigating circumstances, and also found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances; accordingly, it returned a sentence of death.

Evidence supporting first-degree murder

The court described the legal standard for first-degree murder as requiring specific intent to kill, a human being unlawfully killed, the accused did the killing, and the killing was done with premeditation or deliberation.

The court stated that a specific intent to kill may be proven by circumstantial evidence, and that it may be inferred by the use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the victim's body.

Ring theft attempt

On February 2, 1995, Spotz, who was on the run after committing multiple homicides in other Pennsylvania counties, arrived in Harrisburg and unsuccessfully attempted to sell rings stolen from one of his previous victims to his friend, Juan Maldonado. Spotz told Maldonado that he was wanted on a homicide charge in Schuylkill County and that his gun was "dropping them like flies."

Sentencing

Spotz received a death sentence for murdering three women.

• For the February 2, 1995 shooting death of Penny Gunnet, 41, of New Salem, Spotz was sentenced to death on April 24, 1996.
• Spotz also received death sentences for the murders of June Rose Ohlinger, 52, of Schuylkill County, and Betty Amstutz, 71, of Cumberland County, during the same 48-hour period in February 1995.

Appeals

The case was an appeal from a sentence of death imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County.

• Argued: November 15, 1999
• Decided: October 20, 2000
• Opinion by: MR. JUSTICE CASTILLE

The court affirmed the conviction and judgment of sentence.

Outcome

The court affirmed the conviction and sentence of death.

Other details

Lawyer request for a new penalty hearing (York County)

An attorney for convicted spree killer and death row inmate Mark Newton Spotz argued that District Attorney Stan Rebert used religion and fear to sway Spotz's jury to issue the death penalty in 1996.

Spotz's attorneys asked a York County judge to order a new penalty hearing without the benefit of evidence or testimony, in an attempt to preclude the need for a hearing in September.

Spotz was not present at the hearing in York County Common Pleas Court before Judge John S. Kennedy, and no evidence was presented to support assistant federal defender Robert Dunham's claims about Rebert.

Dunham offered examples of "religious" references Rebert allegedly used during Spotz's penalty phase. Dunham noted that Rebert said in his closing argument:

"Did Mark Spotz have a troubled childhood? I don't know that the commonwealth would dispute that. But the commonwealth believes that when Dustin Spotz was killed inClearfield County and when June Ohlinger and Penny Gunnet were murdered, Mark Spotz became a man and put away childish things."

Dunham also noted that, when Spotz's grandmother sought leniency from the jury, Rebert commented:

"Are you at all familiar with the Ten Commandments?"

Dunham said Rebert also told the jury that Spotz had committed three burglaries and advised them:

"One of the most frightening things that can happen - a man intruding into your home."

Dunham said Rebert failed to inform the jury that the three homes were empty at the time they were burglarized.

Dunham said Rebert made a "blind inflammatory assertion" that Gunnet's family demanded the death penalty, and that Spotz would be a danger to society in the future if he received anything less than the death penalty:

"Attorney Rebert was looking for a retaliatory death," Dunham said. "He repeatedly asked the jury to return a vindictive verdict. He said, 'What we are asking you to do is to show him the same respect he showed to ... Penny Gunnet.'"

Rebert was not at Monday's hearing. Deputy Attorney General Jennifer A. Buck argued the defense presented no case law or statute that supported the request for a new penalty hearing. Buck advised the court that it could grant an evidentiary hearing on the argument, and stated that there was "no basis (Monday) for the relief the defense is requesting."

Kennedy deferred ruling on the argument.

Execution warrant and stays; status of cases

An execution warrant for the York County conviction was signed by Ridge in 2001.

Spotz received a stay in the Gunnet murder in 2001 and that case was on appeal in York County court.

Murder of brother during family argument

Spotz shot his brother Dustin to death during a fight at their mother's Clearfield County home on Jan. 31, 1995, then fled.

Spotz was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in his brother's slaying and sentenced to death for murdering the three women.

Timeline-like descriptors in the case description

The case description stated that Spotz executed three women in three counties in three days while on the run in 1995 after killing his brother.

It also stated that all three women were killed during carjackings in three Pennsylvania counties within a 48-hour period in February 1995.

Additional descriptive facts present in the record

The record included descriptive entries:

• "SEX: M"
• "RACE: W"
• "TYPE: N"
• "MOTIVE: PC-nonspecific"
• "MO: Shot brother and three women age 41-71, in fourcounty rampage"
• "DISPOSITION: 17-30 years for manslaughter on one count; condemned on three others."
• "In 1995, Mark Spotz spits during his arrest after a killing spree, which started after an argument over a gerbil."