Thomas Hawkins was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Andrea Nicole Thomas
According to court documents Thomas Hawkins would sexually assault and murder his fourteen year old niece Andrea Nicole Thomas
Thomas Hawkins would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Thomas Hawkins Photos
Thomas Hawkins Now
Parole Number: 5403P
Age: 59
Date of Birth: 12/31/1963
Race/Ethnicity: BLACK
Height: 5′ 09″
Gender: MALE
Citizenship: USA
Complexion: MEDIUM
Current Location: PHOENIX
Permanent Location: PHOENIX
Committing County: BERKS
Thomas Hawkins Case
At approximately 5:00 p.m., on June 4, 1989, the body of fourteen-year-old Andrea Nicole Thomas, who had been strangled to death, was found on her bed on the second floor of her home at 455 Old Reading Pike, Stowe, Pennsylvania. The victim’s aunt, Cherisse Hawkins, returned to the home in the late afternoon to discover the body. She also found the front door unlocked and partially ajar and the living room in disarray. The victim’s dress and bloody underpants were found on the downstair’s living room floor along with various blood and fecal stains. Additionally, there was a plastic garbage bag, like a burglar might use to carry away booty, found in the living room on which Appellant’s fingerprints and no others were found. The victim’s body was found in her bed upstairs, nude except for a bra pulled up above her breasts. Her body was covered with a blanket, and a pillow covered her face. There were puncture wounds in her back and a two-pronged fork with bent tines was also found.
*126 Examination of the body by a forensic pathologist revealed vaginal bruises, scrapes and tears consistent with sexual penetration. The victim was strangled to death by ligature (a telephone and extension wire), and her back bore the stab wounds.
Thomas Hawkins, the uncle of the deceased, was one of the relatives summoned to the scene of the crime by the family. He arrived at what was also his parent’s house that evening (June 4) and gave a statement admitting that he had gone to the house that same morning around 9:00 a.m., had climbed through the window, had seen his niece, Andrea, had played and wrestled with her and had left at 9:45 a.m. after failing to find the keys to his father’s car.
Linking Thomas Hawkins to the crime was the fact that fiber similar to the sewing thread of Appellant’s pants was later found on the dress the victim had been wearing. The time of the victim’s death was also estimated to have been between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon, a time during which Appellant admitted to having been at the house.
On September 21, 1989, while executing a search warrant at Thomas Hawkins’s home in Philadelphia on an unrelated matter, the police observed detective magazines in plain view in Appellant’s bedroom. Several of the magazine articles involving murders of women were highlighted; some had pages folded, and others were just marked. These magazines were introduced at Appellant’s trial. Two inmates who were incarcerated with Thomas Hawkins testified at trial that Appellant had made incriminating statements to them. Finally the circumstances of the victim’s death were compared at trial with those of the murder for which Appellant pled guilty in 1981, revealing some similarities.
On August 14, 1990, the jury found Thomas Hawkins guilty of first degree murder. Later that same day, after the penalty phase of the trial, the jury determined that Appellant’s sentence should be death. The jury determined that one mitigating circumstance the general “demeanor” of Appellant “in everyday *127 life,” was outweighed by one aggravating circumstance the prior murder conviction.
https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1993/534-pa-123-1.html
