Punxy Man's Death Warrant Signed
Governor Edward G. Rendell has signed his 79th death warrant; this one for Robert Gene Rega, a Punxsutawney man who a jury found guilty of gunning down a hotel night watchman during a botched 2000 robbery.
Rega is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 18.
After bemoaning the fact that they had no money to buy Christmas presents for their children, court records indicate Rega conspired with Stanford Jones and his wife, Susan, as well as Shawn Bair, to rob the Gateway Lodge in Cooksburg, Jefferson County. Raymond Fishell later agreed to participate in the crime. All of the conspirators are from Punxsutawney.
Rega and the others hatched their plan during the evening of Dec. 21, 2000, and committed the crime about 5 hours later on Dec. 22. They targeted the hotel because Rega and Bair had worked there.
On Dec. 22, Rega, Fishell, Bair and Stanford Jones drove to the Gateway Lodge wearing stockings on their heads. They also wore gloves. Fishell carried a butcher’s knife with him while Rega carried a .9mm handgun. Bair served as the look-out and getaway driver. Susan Jones watched the children at home as the crime unfolded.
The quartet had planned to hold the night watchman, Christopher Lauth, hostage and force him to obtain the code from the hotel owner’s daughter to open the ATM machine and take that money. However, when they arrived at the business, the men spotted Lauth outside the building, panicked and decided to get out of their car and jump the unsuspecting employee, who was approaching the vehicle.
While holding Lauth at gunpoint, the group tried but failed to get the ATM code. Fishell and Jones, meanwhile, carried the hotel safe to the car while Rega began shooting at the cash-dispensing machine, but failed to open it.
As the group moved toward making its getaway, Bair, Fishell and Jones waited in the car as Rega continued to deal with Lauth. While waiting, the men said they heard a gunshot, a scream, a gurgling sound, and a few more shots. Rega then ran out of the building, got into the car, and ordered Bair to drive away.
After returning to Rega’s trailer, the men opened the safe with a grinder and split the $20,000 it held, each receiving about $5,000. Rega then instructed the men to put all of the credit cards and receipts back into the safe, along with their clothing and shoes. Then they stuffed a kerosene-soaked blanket into the safe, set fire to it, and dumped the safe over an embankment.
Gateway Lodge employees discovered Lauth’s lifeless body when they reported to work at 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 22.
After performing an autopsy on Lauth, Criminal Pathologist Dr. Eric Vey said the victim had been shot once in the right hand, head, back, and right shoulder. While the head wound was immediately fatal, the angle of the bullet trajectories indicated that Lauth was on his knees with his arms raised when he was shot.
Rega was arrested and charged with homicide and related offenses in connection with the death of Lauth and the robbery on Jan. 9, 2001.
On June 20, 2002, eight days after his trial began, a jury convicted Rega of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, robbery, criminal conspiracy, burglary, theft by unlawful taking, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, unlawful restraint, and receiving stolen property. The jury sentenced Rega to death on June 22.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed Rega’s death sentence on Oct. 17, 2007, and denied his application for re-argument on Dec. 10. After his petition for a writ of certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 14, the Office of General Counsel received the record of his trial and direct appeal from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Prothonotary on April 23.
Rega is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 18.
After bemoaning the fact that they had no money to buy Christmas presents for their children, court records indicate Rega conspired with Stanford Jones and his wife, Susan, as well as Shawn Bair, to rob the Gateway Lodge in Cooksburg, Jefferson County. Raymond Fishell later agreed to participate in the crime. All of the conspirators are from Punxsutawney.
Rega and the others hatched their plan during the evening of Dec. 21, 2000, and committed the crime about 5 hours later on Dec. 22. They targeted the hotel because Rega and Bair had worked there.
On Dec. 22, Rega, Fishell, Bair and Stanford Jones drove to the Gateway Lodge wearing stockings on their heads. They also wore gloves. Fishell carried a butcher’s knife with him while Rega carried a .9mm handgun. Bair served as the look-out and getaway driver. Susan Jones watched the children at home as the crime unfolded.
The quartet had planned to hold the night watchman, Christopher Lauth, hostage and force him to obtain the code from the hotel owner’s daughter to open the ATM machine and take that money. However, when they arrived at the business, the men spotted Lauth outside the building, panicked and decided to get out of their car and jump the unsuspecting employee, who was approaching the vehicle.
While holding Lauth at gunpoint, the group tried but failed to get the ATM code. Fishell and Jones, meanwhile, carried the hotel safe to the car while Rega began shooting at the cash-dispensing machine, but failed to open it.
As the group moved toward making its getaway, Bair, Fishell and Jones waited in the car as Rega continued to deal with Lauth. While waiting, the men said they heard a gunshot, a scream, a gurgling sound, and a few more shots. Rega then ran out of the building, got into the car, and ordered Bair to drive away.
After returning to Rega’s trailer, the men opened the safe with a grinder and split the $20,000 it held, each receiving about $5,000. Rega then instructed the men to put all of the credit cards and receipts back into the safe, along with their clothing and shoes. Then they stuffed a kerosene-soaked blanket into the safe, set fire to it, and dumped the safe over an embankment.
Gateway Lodge employees discovered Lauth’s lifeless body when they reported to work at 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 22.
After performing an autopsy on Lauth, Criminal Pathologist Dr. Eric Vey said the victim had been shot once in the right hand, head, back, and right shoulder. While the head wound was immediately fatal, the angle of the bullet trajectories indicated that Lauth was on his knees with his arms raised when he was shot.
Rega was arrested and charged with homicide and related offenses in connection with the death of Lauth and the robbery on Jan. 9, 2001.
On June 20, 2002, eight days after his trial began, a jury convicted Rega of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, robbery, criminal conspiracy, burglary, theft by unlawful taking, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, unlawful restraint, and receiving stolen property. The jury sentenced Rega to death on June 22.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed Rega’s death sentence on Oct. 17, 2007, and denied his application for re-argument on Dec. 10. After his petition for a writ of certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 14, the Office of General Counsel received the record of his trial and direct appeal from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Prothonotary on April 23.
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