Trial counsel was completely ineffective for suggesting to jury that defendant was guilty of third degree murder and admitting malice, since there was no evidence of shared intent, or agreement to commit murder.
The murder was an independent act, and defendant was not guilty of any degree of murder.
Trial counsel Robert Donatoni undercut his case that Brandon Simmers was not involved in the murder when he admitted the third degree murder and shared intent.
Trial Counsel Robert Donatoni was ineffective because there was absolutely no evidence of shared intent on this record.
Brandon Simmers testified that he attempted to grab the gun to stop the shooting. Mr. Simmers then ran to the car flipping out, and screaming why the fuck did you shoot him. Both Commonwealth key witnesses Daniel Jones and Tammy Russum confirmed this in their original statements given to Chester county detectives.
The prejudice is clear. Not only did trial counsel Robert Donatoni undercut his defense, he had no basis for admitting murder of the third degree. The shooting was an independent act which Brandon Simmers tried to prevent after the robbery was complete.
Trial counsel was clearly ineffective for making such an admission. In viewing all the evidence, there was absolutely no evidence of shared intent for the crime of murder, and no evidence of malice. In fact the evidence supports Brandon Simmers position that he did not contemplate a murder, did not participate in it, and was extremely distraught that it had happened.
The evidence supports that the murder was an independent act.
Trial counsel Robert Donatoni so undermined the truth determining process that no reliable adjudication of guilt or innocence could have taken place.
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7 comments:
when my Father's life was taken... so was all of our lives taken. we all lost. it is about taking responsibility and doing the time. we all have choices .. good bad or indifferent and we all must endure the consequences. my mother died 2 years ago still living the nightmare of my Father never returning home. The death of my Father changed all of our lives and we are still suffering to this day.
It was Tuesday February 23, 1999... bitter cold, I mean bitter cold morning when my Father Daniel J. Hesse Sr. was doing his job that he had done for well over 30 years. He was just shy 4 months of retiring. It was my Father's first night back to work after just returning from his weeks vacation and spending time in Virginia with his eldest son who is a minister. What a beautiful time we shared all of us together. That week of vacation he visited all of his friends and family in NJ and VA. Little did we all know, it was the last week we would all share with Daniel Hesse, my Father and Hero! That brutal morning, when my Father was unloading gas into the station he was approached by 2 young men with black ski masks, black gloves and a gun. The gun was pointed to his gut and walked 101 feet to behind the station where he was pistol whipped and executed. He was on his knees begging for his life. What was flashing through my Father's mind?? Was it how will my grandson grow up? Was it my wife and how will she live without me? Was it who didn't I get to say I love you to today? All these things I have pondered over and over again over these soon to be 12 years next month. See,I understand your pain as a Mother. I have a son who is Brandon's age almost the time that he made that fatal choice of hanging out with Duffy. The facts are the facts, did anyone ask how we were doing? Did anyone ever make contact with my Mother who died two years ago still loving my Father, still calling out his name on her deathbed? No care at all. See, my Father and Mother are both dead. You can still see your son. My son still suffers from the tragedy. It has tortured our lives. Long ago, I gave forgiveness... without ever being asked for it. I knew that if these children weren't given love or had a father like I did... how could they ever know what I lost?? And so, the best way for me was to forgive.
I read your articles and the only thing I can say... Where is the man that was unloading the gas...doing his job? When do they realize the decision made was a decision that destroyed many lives? Where does it say, God bless the Hesse Family?
They all slept together in that bed the night my Father was killed. Tammy, Brandon and Duffy. A nice peaceful sleep they had while my Father laid dead in the cold with a crushed face, bullet to the left side of his head and his pants below his waist with his underware hanging out and pockets inside out because he was ransacked after death. These little things must never be forgotten. These details ... of torture are what haunted my Mother till the day she died.
As you fight to get your son out of prison, I will fight to never have my Father forgotten nor the brutality that he endured that cold bitter morning.
this is the daughter of Brandon and Tammy , Chrissie first and for most i would like to say how sorry i am for your and your familys loss that night . as im reading your comments i feel your pain and completely understand why you feel the way you do about my parents .... but what i would like you to understand is that night did not only effect your family , i was about 4 years old when it happened and because of that night i not only lost my father but i lost my mother too . i have to say it really frustrates me that everybody thinks the night it happened my parents just slept like everything was peaches and daisy , because that is far from the truth i may not be them or may not of been there but i know for a fact my parents were sickkkkk about what happened to your father and that was never meant to happen and it still haunts both of them to this day ! my parents are good people who made a very bad decision they were young and very very dumd ! my life has forever been ruined because of that night my father is spending the rest of his life in prision and i will never in my life be able to have a dad in my life or get to know what it feels like to talk to your dad or spent time with him or doind anything father daughter related , i lost my mother for 5 years of my life at the age of 4 when i needed a mommy the most , that night cause my family to be destroyed my family and now i dont even know what a family is anymore , most of them are drunks and addicts now and all the fighting over the years tore us so far apart they all hate eachother because of all these things that that night caused i have had a pretty horrible childhood and now as a young woman im 17 i suffer from horrible depression and pretty much hate my life ... im sorry i am making this alot about me but i completly think what happened that night was wrong and brutal and just horrific and god bless you father i feel for you family i really really do bt im haunted by that night to i was only a 4 year old little girl one day i had my parents and the next they were gone my life will never be the same because of what happened that night when i was about 13 i came across all the picutes of your fathers body at the scene and altopsie photos and it scared me for life i nearly puked when i seen them and stated balling my eyes out it was the most awfull thing i had ever seen and every night like clock work i the pictures come to my mind and i get scared to sleep im scared ill start having nightmares about it agian .. i dont know where im going with this anymore im just lost in my words and thoughts at this point because i have so many emotion running through me , i never thought id have a chance to talk to anyone from your family . i just wanted you to know we are all effected by that night but my parents truly are so so so so sorry and regret it my mom is such an amazing person and has dedicated her life to me and my brother since she got out of prison i have never been able to forgive her for leaving me that we dont get along at all bt she changed shes not the same dum young girl she was and wants so bad to be forgived for making the choies she did ! i really hope all is well with you and family and i am sorry about your mother as well and hope 1 day i can be as strong as you seem to be about it now because its very hard to accept your father is dead and my parents have a part in it , it makes me sick to think about im so so sorry i cant say it enough !
- makayla
peter 5 ; 6 , 7
therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of god that he may exalt you in due time casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you <3
ans 1 more thing i want you to know this blog is not to make it seem like we dont think they deserve consequences or we dont feel horrible for what happened but i want my father out of prision i need him back in my life , he spent enough time in there he learned his lesson and wether you agree or not i know it and i know he got fucked at trial he deserves a second chance at life i think he deserved at least 15 or something but not life , as for duffy hes were he belongs i have not a good word to spek of him and what he has done to the both of out families .
Markayla and cherylnn i would love 2 speak to u guys
Chrissie, this Brandon's Mother. I do feel your pain. I am sorry for all your family has been through. 14 years ago today my Son turned himself in for his involvement in your Fathers senseless murder. I think of your family everyday but Feb. 23 hits hard.
I just want to say again I meant no disrespect towards you or any of your family in any way by starting this blog.
I didn't apologize for anything because it was never my intention to make this about your Fathers death.
I have become so consumed by all of this I stopped writing.
My father was killed by a hit and run driver 6 months before your Father was killed. I could never grieve his death because I felt guilty, and I am still struggling to come to terms with everything.
I am very sorry for your loss of your Mother and I know that pain as well. Around the time your lost your Mother and may she rest in peace, my Mom lost her mind.
I still have her, but I lost my Mother that I know and the mother that knew me.
Brandon was told not to address the court, but as he was led from the courtroom he looked right at your Mother, after being sentenced to life without parole, when no jury members or judge was present and said he was sorry and he meant it.
I started this blog because our courthouse is so corrupt and it turns my stomach how they prey on everyone.
Brandon was an innocent little boy when they took him away from me for not going to school because he was afraid.
He was softspoken and sweet and scared. The courts didn't care. He was beat up by the older boys they started bussing in from the projects but he wouldn't say he was afraid.
They treated him like a hardened criminal for not going to school. He never raised his voice or fought. They screamed at him in court and I had to sit and watch because if I didn't they punished him to spite me. They told him his Mothers outbursts weren't helping him. How is a Mother supposed to sit quietly and watch her son being pushed and knocked around. How is a Mother supposed to quietly let them take her only child who is scared to death?
They took him and wouldn't let me near him.
They let my mom ride along and laid his head on her lap and wept silently the whole ride.
This is very hard for me to write and I don't want you to think I am only thinking of myself or Brandon I am not.
I did say no one knows the truth and I meant it. I'm sorry you only know what the DA wanted you to know, but you got your conviction and that's what matters.
I know you think that because I can see my son it makes it ok for me. It doesn't. I don't see my son. and neither do his children. My Mom saw him right before she lost her mind altogether, but that was in 2010.
I got a letter right before that saying my son was dead on arrival from a heroin overdose 4 days after he died.
Because it was heroin they were able to revive him.
I don't do holidays now his children are older. I am alone and I sit and cry most days.
I talk to your Father and mine almost everyday. I don't know if they hear me, but I talk.
I have to end this now. I will try to finish because I would like to tell you more. more about Feb. 23rd and who we are. I am very sorry.
Anyone that suffered ineffective assistance of counsel by attorney Robert Donatoni needs to get ahold of me ASAP, either by my email jihadi.schitz@gmail.com or find me on Facebook. I am Jonathan Lee Riches , and I was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in state prison for a technical probation violation. I hired Robert Donatoni and payed him close to $20,000 to defend me and I was totally railroaded by this jerk. I am in shock how that man is able to still have his bar license.Donatoni put up no defense at my hearing, no character witnesses, no mitigating evidence. He allowed the prosecutor to present doctored , altered, with no authenticity YouTube videos of me to the judge that had nothing to do with my violation that caused extreme prejudice against me. When I hired him, he came once to visit me in the Chester county prison telling me I would get only 4 months at the most for the technical violation. I believe Donatoni either sold me out and was in on the fix, or he was cocky and felt he didn't have to put up a defense, at the cost of my mothers life savings and years of my life in state prison. I filed complaints against Donatoni with the Pa bar, discipline board, judicial conduct board, ACLU,and I'm in the process of filing civil suits against him.Further , I am going to do everything in my power to expose my own injustice, which Donatoni is response for , via social media and YouTube videos, I am also going to intervene in all future people's criminal cases that Donatoni represents to warn the clients that Donatoni is nothing but a snake oil salesman, and to fire him ASAP before they become his next victim. I pray for anyone that was personally effected by Donatoni's scams.
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