Kaboni Savage was sentenced to death by the Federal Government for the murders of twelve people
According to court documents Kaboni Savage was a gang leader in Pennsylvania with a nasty violent streak
Kaboni Savage would order the firebombing of a residence of a man who testified against the gang. During the firebombing six people would die including that of four children
Kaboni Savage was then convicted on six more murders that would take place
Kaboni Savage would be sentenced to death thirteen times, twelve for the murders and one for witness tampering
Kaboni Savage is considered to be such a risk he is incarcerated at the supermax ADX FLorence
Kaboni Savage Photos
Kaboni Savage FAQ
Where is Kaboni Savage now
Kaboni Savage is currently incarcerated at ADX Florence
When is Kaboni Savage execution
Kaboni Savage execution has yet to be scheduled
Kaboni Savage Case
A Pennsylvania drug dealer convicted of committing or ordering at least a dozen murders, including the firebombing killings of an entire family, failed Thursday to convince a federal appeals court panel to overturn the 13 death sentences he faces.
That decision against Kaboni Savage came in a 201-page opinion by Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
The circuit court ruling leaves Savage, who once ran a wide-ranging and violent drug trafficking ring in the Philadelphia area, with the dubious honor of being the only Pennsylvanian on federal death row.
Investigators said Savage, now 45, inspired terror for more than two decades.
In March 1998, he shot and killed a man for accidentally bumping his car, they said. Later, Savage had the sole witness to that killing, a fellow drug dealer, gunned down the evening before Savage was to go on trial for the murder.
Savage routinely ordered the murders of business rivals or any member of his organization he suspected of being disloyal, investigators said.
They said that in October 2004 Savage ordered a hit on the family of a former colleague who was cooperating with authorities. Hours later, Savage’s associates firebombed the family’s home, killing the other man’s mother, infant son, 15- and 12-year-old nephews and his cousin and her 10-year-old daughter.
Recordings of prison conversations “revealed Savage’s great satisfaction that the killings had taken place, and the intercepted conversations revealed plans to kill yet other witnesses and their families,” Smith wrote.
He cited one recording where Savage said, “By the time of trial everybody be dead.” In other recordings listed in the circuit court opinion Savage raged about killing all the “rats” who were talking to police and their love ones as well.
“You know what it’s going to cost you, your life and your mom’s life,” Savage was taped telling one witness. “I’m going to kill your mother.” In another recording he spoke of punishing a government witness by killing “everything that you love.” Savage added,” Yeah, he got a daughter down my way. I’m going to blow her little head off. She like five.
Several of those who testified against Savage opted to enter the federal Witness Protection Program, Smith noted.
Savage received his death sentences in June 2013, a month after a federal jury convicted him on 12 counts of murder and one of witness retaliation.
In denying Savage’s appeal, Smith rejected his claims that he didn’t receive a fair trial – he claimed prejudice in part because the jury for his case was overwhelmingly white – that the trial judge issued rulings that violated his civil rights, and that prosecutors cherry-picked the evidence to use against him, omitting factors that might have weighed in his favor.
“Exercising the heightened responsibility required of us (in death penalty cases), we discern no grounds entitling Savage to relief on any of the issues he raises,” Smith wrote.
The circuit court ruling was sharply criticized by Savage’s attorney Lawrence S. Lustberg in the following statement.
“In its first decision on a federal death sentence in the modern era, the Third Circuit has failed to offer coherent guidance to trial courts conducting death penalty cases and has endorsed significant infringements on the rights of defendants facing capital punishment. For example, in a truly unprecedented ruling, the court holds that it was acceptable to substitute a new lead attorney for Mr. Savage in the middle of jury selection, a situation in which no lawyer, no matter how experienced, could have rendered an adequate defense. Under the circumstances, it is inconceivable to us that the court of appeals could have been satisfied that a death verdict was appropriate.”
“This is especially so because the Third Circuit also resolved many issues in the prosecution’s favor even though dozens of important portions of the lower-court proceedings were held off the record, and even though Mr. Savage’s appellate lawyers, who were not involved in the trial, diligently attempted to create an appropriate appellate record. As a result, we were left in the dark about what actually happened. But the court nevertheless concluded that no error occurred. We will continue to pursue relief based on these and other similarly flawed rulings in the panel’s decision.”