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Donald
LOFTIN
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robberies
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: March
28 / May 5, 1992
Date of arrest: May 9, 1992
Date of birth:
October 14,
1965
Victims profile: Sofia Fetter,
69 /
Gary Marsh,
26
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Atlantic County, New Jersey, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on October 15, 1993. Commuted to
life in prison
Sofia Fetter was
a 69-year-old chambermaid, working at Harrah’s Casino Hotel in Atlantic
City. On the evening of March 28, 1992, she was sent to clean Room 1134
in Harrah’s Harbor Tower - - where she was murdered, execution-style,
shot in the head at close range.
Investigation was
able to establish the presence of an unauthorized man in the Harbor
Tower area, and video surveillancce tracked his movements before and
after the time of Sofia’s murder. Ballistics testing of the bullets
obtained from the hotel room identified the type of weapon used . . . a
.380 caliber semi-automatic pistol. But there the trail ended.
During
the pre-dawn hours of May 5, 1992, Gary Marsh was working alone at a
Lawrence Township Exxon station. Gary was an honors graduate at Rider
University. Looking forward to completing his aviation training, he took
a part-time job at the Lawrence gas station. This was his fifth day on
the job.
A co-worker
arrived at six a.m. to start his shift, but saw no sign of Gary. He
approached the office and saw Marsh’s body, sprawled on the floor with
his head in a large pool of blood. He was barely alive when the co-worker
called for the police, and paramedics who arrived struggled to get him
breathing. Although taken by Medivac helicopter to a Camden hospital, he
never regained consciousness and died that afternoon.
The
autopsy determined that the cause of death was a gunshot to the head.
The bullet entered over the left ear, penetrated his skull, passed
directly through both hemispheres of his brain, and exited on the
opposite side above the right temple. Both the bullet and its shell
casing were recovered at the scene.
Four
days later, Donald Loftin was arrested using Gary Marsh’s credit card to
buy a computer. Subsequent searches of his home and car revealed the
murder weapon, a .380 semi-automatic weapon, concealed under the
dashboard. Both the bullet that killed Gary Marsh, and the bullet that
killed Sofia Fetter, were identified as coming from the gun belonging to
Loftin.
Donald Loftin was
tried for the murder of Sofia Fetter in 1993, was convicted and given a
life sentence with thirty years before parole. He was tried for the
murder of Gary Marsh in 1994, convicted and received the death penalty.
ProDeathPenaltyNJ.com
Loftin admits murder at Lawrence gas station
By Linda Stein/The Times
Thursday May 01, 2008
TRENTON -- Although his conviction was overturned on
appeal and a new trial set for Monday next week, Donald Loftin admitted
Thursday in court that he killed Gary Marsh during the robbery of a gas
station in 1992.
Loftin, 42, who had been on death row until his
conviction was overturned last year, pleaded guilty to one count of
murder and faces a 30-year prison sentence for the Marsh killing. Marsh,
an honors graduate of Rider University, was gunned down while working
part-time at a Lawrence gas station as he completed his training in
aviation.
"I robbed and shot Gary Marsh at a service station on
Route 1, an Exxon station," Loftin told Superior Court Judge Charles A.
Delehey. "That's it."
Defense lawyer Steven Lember would not speculate as
to why Loftin agreed to the plea shortly before the trial would have
started, except to note that he might have been sentenced to another
life term if convicted by a jury, while 30 years is "a fixed sentence."
The sentence will run consecutive to a life sentence
that Loftin, of Bristol Township, Pa., is serving for the murder of a
chambermaid in Atlantic County, also in 1992.
On Thursday, after Loftin's confession, Deputy First
Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie said that she was prepared for the
trial to begin on Monday and that even though it was an old case, her
witnesses were ready and able to testify. However, Loftin's admission
means that the trial is off.
New Jersey Court Voids Death Penalty Conviction
By Ronald Smothers - The New York Times
June 6, 2007
TRENTON — The New Jersey
Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated the murder
conviction and death sentence of a Pennsylvania
man imprisoned since 1994. The court ruled that
the trial judge and two lawyers who represented
the man had failed to pursue the potential bias
of a juror.
Despite what it said was
“overwhelming evidence of guilt” in the case of
the man, Donald Loftin, the court said this
failure by the judge and the lawyers so tainted
the conviction that it ordered a new trial.
Mr. Loftin, 41, who is black,
was found guilty in the 1992 murder of Gary
Marsh, a Lawrenceville, N.J., gas station
attendant. He was sentenced to death and has
been on death row ever since.
“Denying an accused the right
to an impartial jury is to deprive him of the
very essence of a fair trial and therefore is
not susceptible to a harmless error analysis,”
Associate Justice Barry T. Albin wrote.
The events that gave rise to
the ruling center on a white juror, a postal
worker who told two black co-workers that he was
ready to “go to the hardware store and buy a
rope to hang this man with.”
The workers reported the
conversation to the presiding judge, Paulette
Sapp-Peterson. When the judge met privately with
the juror and the lawyers, the juror admitted
making the comment, but said it was a joke aimed
at his colleagues, who he said considered him
biased, according to the ruling.
Judge Sapp-Peterson, over the
defense lawyer’s objections, returned the juror
to the jury box, and when deliberations began
the judge made him an alternate.
The Supreme Court ruled that
the juror should have immediately been
disqualified because of the comments and because
of the possibility of his sharing his views with
other jurors. The court faulted Mr. Loftin’s
lawyers for not raising the issue in two
previous unsuccessful appeals.
Whether the case will be
tried a second time remained a question. Joseph
L. Bocchini Jr., the Mercer County prosecutor,
described the ruling as “upsetting to put it
mildly.” He said his office would ask the court
to reconsider its ruling on unspecified grounds.
At least four justices, however, would have to
agree to reconsider the case. The ruling was
6-1.
David B. Glazer, Mr. Loftin’s
lawyer in the successful appeal, said that
although he was “gratified” by the ruling, it
would not have a significant effect on his
client, who is also serving time for the murder
of an Atlantic City hotel chambermaid. Mr.
Glazer said, “But for this conviction he would
not have been on death row all this time.”
