Walters was 23 and lived in the McVeytown area. His obituary records that he was born in Altoona on May 9, 1960, graduated from Mount Union Area High School in 1978, served in the U.S. Navy and worked part time at the Allenport Fruit Market. [1]
According to the Superior Court’s account, Samuel Myers arrived at the American Legion Country Club at approximately 12:30 a.m. Walters was seated at the edge of the swimming pool, which had closed to the public. Myers approached from behind and shot him in the head with a revolver. Walters fell into the pool, and Myers left. [8]
The club was in Wayne Township, Mifflin County. A United Press International report identified Myers as a 27-year-old Mount Union resident. Local reporting gave his name as Samuel Francis Myers and said he surrendered at his home at approximately 7:35 that morning. He was held without bail. [2]
At a preliminary hearing on July 26, District Justice Rick Williams heard three prosecution witnesses and ordered Myers to stand trial on charges of criminal homicide, murder and aggravated assault. [3]
Jury selection began November 14, 1983, followed by two days of testimony before Judge Francis A. Searer. District Attorney William L. Helm prosecuted the case, and Charles Bierbach represented Myers. The jury of seven men and five women returned a first-degree murder verdict at 10:30 a.m. on November 17. During deliberations, jurors sought further instruction about intoxication and the distinction between first- and third-degree murder. [4]
Myers testified that he could not remember going to the pool or shooting Walters. The court opinion also records his intoxication defense. Those were defense claims; the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. [4] [8]
A November 24, 1984, notice in the Tyrone Daily Herald reported that Myers had formally received a life sentence. The notice does not specify the sentencing date. [5]
In February 1988, The Daily News published a letter signed Samuel Myers challenging the difference between his first-degree murder verdict and a third-degree verdict in another case. The letter preserves his own argument about the convictions. [6]
After unsuccessful direct appeals, Myers filed a petition under the Post-Conviction Relief Act on December 21, 1989. A hearing followed on March 30, 1992. The Mifflin County court granted a new trial over his lawyer’s failure to object to the first-degree murder instructions, which did not separately define malice. [8]
The Daily News reported on June 3, 1992, that Senior Judge G. Thomas Gates had granted the new trial and that the Commonwealth was appealing. It identified Michael Roselle as Myers’s appointed attorney and reported that Myers was serving his life sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Huntingdon. [7]
On February 5, 1993, the Pennsylvania Superior Court reversed the new-trial order. It held that the instructions, read as a whole, adequately explained first-degree murder and that counsel was not ineffective for failing to make a meritless objection. Reargument was denied April 2, 1993. [8]
The court reversed the grant of a new trial, leaving the conviction and life sentence in place. This account follows the record through that 1993 decision.
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