A spurned lover killed two women -- six years apart -- with the same knife.
After the first killing, he used the murder weapon as part of his costume when hehanded out candy on Halloween.
He is among the 17 men on Pennsylvania'a death rowwho face three or more death sentences.
These killers, who account for 36 total death sentences,also include fathers, husbands, boyfriends,gangb*ngers, a prison guard,an immigration attorney and an underwear thief.
Here are the inmates facing the most death sentences.
12 death sentences
George Emil Banks,bornJune 22, 1942,wasa Camp Hill state prison guard before he shot 13 people to death with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle onSeptember 25, 1982, in Luzerne County. He faces 12 death sentences.
Banks had been drinking and taking prescription drugs when he shot three of his girlfriends and four of his children by those women and another childin his home.
He then shot a neighbor outside hishomebeforegoing to aformer girlfriend's house where he shot her and their son and the girlfriend's mother and the girlfriend's nephew.
Banks was convicted of 12 counts of first-degree murder and received 12 death sentences. In 2010, Banks was deemed incompetent to be executed. He remains on death row inGraterfordstate prison.
5 death sentences
Richard ScottBaumhammers,born May 17, 1965,wasan immigration and international law attorney from Pittsburgh when he armedhimself on April 28, 2000, inPittsburghand went on a spree targeting people he perceived as immigrants and non-whites.
Among his victims:
- His elderly Jewish neighbor who was friends with hisparents.
- An immigrant from India who was working at a grocery store.
- AChinese restaurant manager
- AVietnamese-American cook.
- An African-American man who was working out at akarate school.
Baumhammers, 35 at the time of the killings,had been treated for mental illness for the previous seven years and his father later told authorities he had seensignsofmental illness in his son since age 4.
A jury convictedBaumhammersof five counts of first-degree murder and handed down five death sentences.
Baumhammersremains on death row at Greene state prison.
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4 death sentences
Michael Eric Ballard, born Aug. 15, 1973, who already servedalmost 20yearsin prisonfor stabbing amanto death in 1991,went to his girlfriend's Northampton home on June 26, 2010, and stabbed her to death, along with her father, her 87-year-old wheelchair-bound grandfather and a neighbor who heard screams and tried to intervene.
Ballard pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder. Ajury imposedthe four death sentences.
Jose DeJesus, born April 4, 1979, a reputed North Philadelphia hit man and drug gang enforcer, shot and killed a drug rival and that man's pregnant associate on May 30, 1997. He then strafed the car of another drug rival with a semi-automatic rifle from arooftop on June 20, 1997.The driver turned out to be someone who had just bought the car from DeJesus' rival. And on Aug. 24, 1997, DeJesus shot a man on the street following an argumentabout a stolen gun.
Three Philadelphia County juries returned death sentences for the four killings.
PaulGamboa-Taylor, born June 9, 1960, used a ball-peen hammer and a knife to kill his 23-year-old wife, two of theirchildren, ages 2 and 4,his 42-year-old mother-in-law and her 2-year-old son in York onMay 18, 1991.
Gamboa-Taylor pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and received four death sentences and sentence of life without parole for his mother-in-law's death.
Threedeath sentences
John C.Eichinger,bornFeb. 18, 1972, killed twice for unrequited love, six years apart. Hestabbed a 20-year-old woman in Bridgeport, Pa.in1999 and another woman on Good Friday 2005in King of Prussia. Both women had rejected his advances. Duringthe 2005 murder, he also stabbed two witnesses -- his victim's sister and a 3-year-old girl. Eichinger confessed to the 1999 murder while being questioned for the 2005 murders. He was convicted of first-degree murder in all four killings and was sentenced to life for the 1999 murder and three death sentences for the 2005 murders. Eichinger told authorities he used the same knife in 1999 and 2005. He said, after the 1999 murder, he would put on rubber gloves he taken from the crime scene to prevent leaving his DNA, and hold the knife while wearing a Scream mask to pass out candy on Halloween.
Miguel A. Padilla, born Nov. 20, 1979, shot theowner of the UVA, a private club in Altoona,theclub doorman anda clubpatron on Aug. 28, 2005, after he and his friends were denied admission to the club.
A Blair County jury convicted Padilla of three counts of first-degree murder and then sentenced him to death in each killing.
Michael P. Pierce, born Aug. 1, 1956, set fire tohisparents' house onJuly 10, 1989, killing his motherand his 95-year-oldgrandmother. Pierce's father, who had tried to rescue the women, died fromsmoke inhalation and bronchopneumonia six months later. Pierce believed his parents were trying to poison him.
A jury convicted Pierce of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death in each killing.
Richard Poplawski, born Sept. 12, 1986, killed three Pittsburgh police officers who had been dispatched to Poplawski's mother's home on April 4, 2009, after a heated argument between Poplawski and his mother over a dog urinating in thehouse.
Wearing a bullet proof vest, Poplawski laid in wait for the officers, armed with a semi-automaticrifle, a 12-gauge pump shotgunandthreehandguns. The three officers bled to death during the ensuing four-hour standoff where more than 600 rounds were fired by Poplawski and police.
A jury convicted Poplawski of three counts of first-degree murder, sentencing him to death in each one.
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Harvey M. Robinson, born Dec. 6, 1974, a repeated women's underwear thief, killed three women inan11-month span.
- He raped and beat a29-year-old nurse's aidein her Allentown home onAug. 9, 1992.
- He abducted a 15-year-old newspaper carrier in Allentown and raped and stabbed her on June 9, 1993.
- He beat and strangled a 47-year-old grandmother in her Allentown home on June 20, 1993.
Robinson was captured when he returned to kill another rape victim who had survived. A police officer watching the woman's house exchangedgunfirewithRobinson who escaped but later was found at a local hospital.
All three victims lived within blocks of Robinson. Convicted as an adult for murders he committed as a juvenile, Robinson is awaiting resentencing.
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MarkNewtonSpotz,born Feb. 14, 1971,killed his brother,DustinSpotz, on Jan. 31,1995, followingan argument over a child pushinga gerbilin Mark's face while he was sleeping. Then,with a 17-year-old female companion in tow,Spotzwent on a central Pennsylvania killingspreethat left threewomen dead.
OnFeb. 1, 1995,he carjacked and killedJune Ohlinger, a 52-year-old grandmother in Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, dumping her body from a bridge.
On Feb. 2,1995, inYork County, hecarjackedPennyGunnet, a 41-year-old office manager on her way to work.SpotzshotGunnetand then ran over her body with her car on Indian Rock Dam Road.
He and his companion parted afterGunnett'smurder andSpotzmade his way to Carlisle where he was arrested in a motel on Feb.3, 1995. He had paid for the room with a credit card in the nameof Betty Amstutz, aretired Lutheran deaconess.The next morning, highway maintenance workers found the body of the 71-year-old Harrisburg womannear the turnpike.
Spotzstood trial in three counties before three juries and received three first-degree murder convictions for killing the three women. He was sentenced to death in eachcase.
Roland Steele Jr.,born Aug. 5, 1946, had received the Carnegie Hero Award as a teen for saving a 2-year-old boy from an oncoming train in Morgan, Pa., in 1964. Twenty-two years later, he was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and received threedeathsentences. Steele had posed as a good Samaritan, purportedly helping an elderly woman with her car, and killed that woman and two of her companions – all in their 80s – in July 1985 nearhischildhoodhome in Cecil Township, Washington County.
Ralph T. Stokes, born Feb. 8, 1963, shot and killed three people on March 11, 1982, during a robbery of the Philadelphia restaurant where he worked. He shot two fellow employees who recognized him despite his ski mask. He also shot aU.S. Postal Service employee who happened upon the robbery. He was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and received three death sentences.
Ronald Taylor,born Sept. 30, 1960, shot and killed three men on March 1, 2000, ina racially-motivated murder spree. Taylor first shot a white maintenance worker in his Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County, apartment building. Taylor then walked to a nearby Burger King where he shot a 71-year-old white man who was sitting in a booth. He then went to a nearby McDonald's.He shot and seriously wounded a man sitting in a car in the parking lot and then entered the restaurant and seriously wounded the manager. Taylor then walked along the lineof cars in the drive-thru lane and shot a white man who was waiting in line in the forehead, killing him.
Taylor surrendered to authorities after terrorizing employees in a medical office.
A jury sentenced Taylor to death in each of the murders.
ThavirakSam,a Cambodianimmigrant, bornFeb. 12, 1957, received three death sentences for killing hismother-in-law, brother-in-law, and 2-year-old niece. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced by a judge after he ordered his attorney to present no defense at the sentencing hearing. Sam's wife had threatened to divorce him for repeatedly beating their young son. Sam also was known to physically abuse the niece.OnJuly20, 1989, Sam's sister-in-law called the family restaurant in Philadelphia because Sam was again beating his son. Sam's mother-in-law and brother-in-law went to Sam's house to retrieve the two children. Sam shot his mother-in-law, wounded his brother-in-law and chased him down the street before killing him andthen returnedhome and shot his niece in the head.
Gerald Watkins, born June 3, 1969, received three death sentences for the murders of his ex-girlfriend, her 9-year-old son and her 18-day-old baby in Pittsburgh on July 20, 1994. Watkins remained at large until his arrest in New YorkCity a year later. A jury convicted Watkins of three counts of first-degree murder and handed down three death sentences.
ErnestWholaverJr., born April 23, 1960, shot and killed his estranged wife and their two daughters on Dec. 24, 2002, after being evicted from his Middleton home by a ProtectionFromAbuse order for allegedly sexually abusing the daughters. He left his 9-month-old granddaughter unharmed. From prison,Wholavertried to have the father of the baby killed and framed as the murderer of the other three. A jury convicted him of three counts of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death for each count.Wholaverwas acquitted of the sexual offense charges.
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