Troy Drumheller was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Carol Huttenstine
According to court documents Troy Drumheller had a lengthy record of physically abusing Carol Huttenstine. When she decided to get a protection order against Drumheller he would walk right through it and stab her to death
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Troy Drumheller Case
The evidence suggests that Troy Drumheller and his sometimes girlfriend, Carol Huttenstine (Huttenstine), had a violent and abusive relationship. In fact, Huttenstine filed four separate protection from abuse (PFA) petitions against Troy Drumheller, one in July of 1996, one in February of 1997, one in December of 1997, and the most recent one on January 15, 1999. Each of the PFA petitions contained recitations of acts of abuse perpetrated by Drumheller against Huttenstine, including numerous incidents where Troy Drumheller punched Huttenstine in the face, pulled her hair, kicked her, threw her to the ground, choked her, and threatened to kill her. Following the filing of each petition, the court entered a restraining order against Troy Drumheller. With the last PFA petition, the court issued a temporary restraining order against Drumheller on January 15, 1999, and issued a final restraining order on February 8, 1999, that Huttenstine never requested be discontinued, altered, or modified.
This final PFA order was in effect at the time of Huttenstine’s death on April 24, 1999. The court served Troy Drumheller with notice of the January 15, 1999 PFA order restricting his contact with Huttenstine. However, on at least four occasions, Huttenstine reported to police that Drumheller had violated the terms of that order by contacting her. (Notes of Testimony (N.T.), dated December 6, 2000, Volume 4, at 152-153). In fact, on March 2, 1999, approximately six weeks before her death, Huttenstine reported to police that Troy Drumheller had appeared at her home and had grabbed her. Id. at 144-148.
On August 12, 1997, Huttenstine had contacted police to provide them with information regarding the drug trafficking activities of Troy Drumheller. Thereafter, Huttenstine became a confidential informant and had contact with police many times. Brenda Thomas (Thomas), another former girlfriend of Troy Drumheller, who was also cooperating with police as a confidential informant, testified that she had first met Huttenstine in May of 1997, at which point Huttenstine showed her bruises and bite marks. According to Thomas, Huttenstine told her that Drumheller had done this by punching her, pulling her hair, biting her, and kicking her with steel-toed boots. Id. at 195. While Huttenstine was at Thomas’ house, Drumheller appeared and accused them both of plotting against him to set him up on a drug bust. Id. at 196. Drumheller allegedly told Huttenstine and Thomas that if “either one of [them] ever did anything to set him up he would kill [them].” Id. On other occasions, Drumheller told Thomas that he thought Huttenstine was providing information to police about his drug dealing and that if he “ever found out or had proof to back up his suspicions he would kill her.” Id. at 197. Cheryl Cerasoli (Cerasoli), the director of Beyond Violence, a women’s center that Huttenstine frequented between January of 1999 and her death that April, testified that Huttenstine told her that, “Troy is going to kill me. He knows that I am going to testify against him.” Id. at 208-209.
Shortly after midnight on April 24, 1999, the date of her murder, Huttenstine appeared at the mobile home of Robert Brockway (Brockway), a friend and co-worker of Huttenstine. Brockway testified that Huttenstine told him that Drumheller had gotten into her house and had started beating her. (N.T., dated December 5, 2000, Volume 3, at 38-39). Huttenstine showed Brockway bruises and bite marks. Id. At approximately 1:30 a.m., Brockway and Huttenstine were startled by a loud noise; Brockway testified to the ensuing events as follows:
A: I heard the screen door pulled open and then my inside door was kicked in.
* * *
Q: Once the door swung open and swung back what is the first you observed in regard to your front entrance?
A: The door had swung. It hit the door and it had swung back part way. And the first thing I saw was-it was the light reflecting off of a knife blade.
Q: Subsequent to seeing the knife blade did you see an individual that you recognized?
A: Yes.
Q: Who was that individual?
A: Troy Drumheller walked into the house.
* * *
Q: Mr. Drumheller entered your home that night? Can I assume he had no permission to enter your home?
A: No.
* * *
Q: Once the Defendant entered and closed the door was the knife still in his hand?
A: Yes․ His right hand.
* * *
Q: Sir, what specifically, if you can recall did he say to Carol Huttenstine at that point?
A: As they were arguing she was saying that “I had nothing to do with this.” He was just yelling over top of her about running away from him all the time, going to the police all the time, testifying. It was just a battery of things that he went through.
Q: At any point during that battery of things did he mention a P.F.A. or protection from abuse order?
A: Yes, he did.
Q: What was the last thing that he said to her prior to anything physically happening?
A: Well, as they went through the things, running to the police, the cops, and then “You are going to [expletive deleted] testify.” And then he stabbed her.
Q: Sir, where did he stab her?
A: He stabbed her in the left side of the torso.
* * *
Q: At that point, Sir, did you react or do anything?
A: Yes, I said, “Troy don’t do this,” you know, you know, “there is nothing going on. I don’t know what is going on. It has nothing to do with me.”
Q: And what did he say to you?
A: He told me, he said, “shut the [expletive deleted] up, boyfriend.”
Q: Did he then make a move in your direction?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you explain what he did?
A: The area was-it was only a ten-foot wide trailer. And with the furniture in there there is only a few spaces you can walk through it. And, he just took like two steps and he stabbed me [in] my left breast.
* * *
A: I looked up at him. I couldn’t believe he did this. And he laughed and he said, “See that? Look at that. You are bleeding. You are going to die tonight. We are all going to die tonight.”
* * *
A: [He then turned back to Carol.] He was facing Carol, away from me. And when I stood up he turned to face me again.
Q: Was the knife still in his right hand?
A: Yes.
Q: At that point, did Carol do something that distracted him?
A: Yes, she was holding the phone up. She grabbed the phone and she hit the talk button and it beeped and she started dialing.
Q: What did the Defendant do at that point?
A: He grabbed the phone with his left hand and I couldn’t really see what he did, but it looked like a punching motion and the phone was smashed.
* * *
Q: At that point was there any conversation between Carol and yourself?
A: Yes. Right when he grabbed the phone and smashed it she said, “Bob, go get help. Go next door.”
Q: Did you start to run out the back of the trailer?
A: Yes.
Q: Prior to exiting the trailer, did you look back at Carol and say anything?
A: Yes, I fell at the door. I was dizzy when I got up. When I ran off, and I stood up, and I turned around, and I told her “Carol, I am going for help.”
Q: Do you know whether the Defendant still had physical possession of the knife?
A: Yes, he did.
Q: Where was he the last time you saw the Defendant? Where was he in relation to Carol?
A: Standing right next to the chair yelling at her.
(N.T., Volume 3, at 43-51). Brockway made it to the home of a neighbor, who called the police and the paramedics. At 1:44 a.m., the State Police arrived at the scene and observed Huttenstine’s motionless body laying on the floor of Brockway’s mobile home.
Dr. Michael Kenny (Dr. Kenny), the coroner and a forensic pathologist, pronounced Huttenstine dead at 2:41 a.m. and estimated the time of death to be 1:35 a.m. Dr. Kenny testified that Huttenstine was stabbed twenty-one different times, of which six of the wounds were potentially fatal. (N.T., dated December 5, 2000, Volume 2, at 39, 54). He stated that the stab wounds were at different orientations and angles, indicating a struggle, which was corroborated by a myriad of defensive wounds present on Huttenstine’s hands. Id. at 56. Additionally, Dr. Kenny observed bruising on Huttenstine’s body, including her knee, thigh, and arm, which he estimated had been inflicted within the three to five days preceding her death. Id. at 45.
Following a nine-hour search, the police arrested Drumheller and charged him with murder,1 attempted murder,2 two counts of aggravated assault,3 two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon,4 and burglary.5 The police confiscated the clothing that Drumheller was wearing at the time of his arrest and tested it. The tests revealed the presence of blood consistent with that of Huttenstine on Drumheller’s sweatshirt. (N.T., Volume 4, at 67-68, 82, 90).
The trial court appointed a public defender to represent Drumheller. On June 28, 1999, the Commonwealth informed Drumheller and the court of its intention to seek the death penalty. On July 28, 1999, Drumheller filed an omnibus pre-trial motion seeking, inter alia, a change of venue or venire. On November 1, 1999, the trial court continued the motion for change of venue or venire until jury selection. On November 9, 1999, the voters of Columbia County elected Drumheller’s public defender to the position of District Attorney, so the trial court appointed new defense counsel.
On October 23, 2000, the trial court rejected Drumheller’s motion for a change of venue or venire, reasoning that the press releases concerning the crime were “not so inflammatory that the court cannot say for certain that a jury could not be obtained from a local county pool.” Commonwealth v. Drumheller, No. 99-364, slip op., at 2 (Pa.C.C.P. October 23, 2000). However, the trial court did reserve the right to revisit this issue during jury selection if it became clear at that point that the pre-trial publicity of the case rendered it impossible to select an impartial jury.
On November 13, 2000, the Commonwealth filed a motion in limine, requesting permission to introduce evidence of the prior acts of Drumheller’s abuse of Huttenstine, his prior arrest on drug charges, and Huttenstine’s cooperation with police with regard to that arrest. On November 28, 2000, the trial court ruled this evidence admissible. Jury selection commenced later that day and concluded on December 5, 2000; the court did not revisit the request by Drumheller for a change of venue or venire. On December 7, 2000, the jury convicted Drumheller of all crimes with which he had been charged.
In the ensuing penalty phase hearing for the first-degree murder conviction, the Commonwealth presented five aggravating circumstances to the jury: (1) Huttenstine was a prosecution witness to a felony committed by Troy Drumheller and was killed to prevent her testimony; 6 (2) Drumheller committed the killing while in perpetration of a felony; 7 (3) in committing the offense, Troy Drumheller knowingly created a grave risk of death to Brockway; 8 (4) at the time of the killing, Huttenstine had provided police with information concerning criminal activity and the killing was in retaliation for her activities in providing this information; 9 and (5) at the time of the killing, Drumheller was subject to a court order restricting his behavior toward Huttenstine.10 Troy Drumheller presented two mitigating circumstances: (1) Troy Drumheller was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance; 11 and (2) any other evidence of mitigation concerning the character and record of Drumheller and the circumstances of his offense (the catchall mitigator).12
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