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Happy birthday to Braeden Mullery!

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Happy birthday to Grace Emma Shaner!

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Michael Bardo will die in prison, but it won&#8217;t be at the hands of the state.</p><p>After a jury of seven women and five men sentenced him to death over two decades ago, a county judge&#8217;s ruling Tuesday ensured the convicted child killer will dodge the needle only to live out the remainder of his life between prison walls.</p><p>&#8220;I think we closed a pretty dark chapter in our history today,&#8221; Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino said.</p><p>Bardo, 46, was convicted 23 years ago of first-degree murder for the strangulation death of his 3-year-old niece, Joelle Donovan, following a three-day trial. Jurors the following day took five hours to reach their decision to sentence Bardo, then 23, to death by lethal injection.</p><p>Investigators said Bardo choked the child to quiet her cries as he sexually assaulted her in the living room of his Barney Street house. Bardo stuffed the girl&#8217;s body in a plastic garbage bag and threw it into Solomon Creek in South Wilkes-Barre, investigators said. He later confessed to the killing.</p><p>But whether the killer would elude the executioner remained unsettled as Bardo&#8217;s fate lingered in judicial limbo following numerous rounds of appeals.</p><p>The challenges cost a tremendous amount of time and resources while taking a significant toll on Donovan&#8217;s grieving mother &#8212; factors that played into prosecutors&#8217; decision to toss their pursuit of the death penalty in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Ferentino said.</p><p>Seeking death again would only trigger Bardo&#8217;s appellate rights and force the victim&#8217;s mother to relive the &#8220;horrifying events&#8221; of her daughter&#8217;s death, he added.</p><p>&#8220;If we could get a result that the family and our offices can live with,&#8221; Ferentino said, &#8220;that&#8217;s the best you can hope for in situations like this.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Legal history</strong></p><p>Bardo was awarded a new penalty phase for his conviction by the state Supreme Court in a ruling issued Dec. 16, 2014.</p><p>On appeal, the state Supreme Court was split on whether to uphold a 2012 order of then Luzerne County Senior Judge Patrick Toole to vacate Bardo&#8217;s death sentence on claims his attorneys did not present a wealth of mitigating evidence during the penalty phase hearing.</p><p>Following the penalty phase of trial, the jury found two aggravating circumstances: killing in the perpetration of a felony (the molestation) and killing of a person under the age of 12.</p><p>One or more jurors also found the following mitigating factors: Bardo&#8217;s mother&#8217;s testimony, his school records and background, his acceptance of responsibility/remorse, his willingness to plead and his alcohol abuse, according to previous reports.</p><p>Because the high court was evenly split, Toole&#8217;s decision stood as a matter of law. The case went to the Supreme Court after the Luzerne County District Attorney&#8217;s Office appealed Toole&#8217;s order granting a new sentencing hearing.</p><p>Bardo had also appealed the guilt phase of his trial, citing several factors, including that his attorneys failed to present evidence to support a voluntary intoxication defense, establish that a change of venue was needed or obtain Bardo&#8217;s Luzerne County Children and Youth records.</p><p>Toole dismissed those claims as meritless. Bardo appealed that dismissal to the Supreme Court, which unanimously upheld the judge&#8217;s decision on those claims.</p><p>During the re-sentencing Tuesday, Bardo acknowledged he was giving up his right to seek appeals at any point in the future.</p><p>&#8220;No more challenges will be made,&#8221; Judge Joseph Sklarosky Jr. said. &#8220;Is that your understanding?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Yes, sir,&#8221; Bardo told the judge. The inmate&#8217;s responses to the judge were his only words offered to the court on Tuesday.</p><p><strong>One less on death row</strong></p><p>Sklarosky&#8217;s ruling removes Bardo from the list of 180 inmates currently awaiting execution in the state, Department of Corrections records show.</p><p>With the ruling, mass murderer George Banks becomes the only inmate prosecuted in Luzerne County currently on death row. Banks killed 13 people &#8212; including five of his children &#8212; in a rampage in and around Jenkins Township on Sept. 25, 1982. He received 12 death sentences on Nov. 22, 1985.</p><p>Banks has avoided the death penalty for nearly 30 years amid questions about mental illness and his competency to understand why he is facing execution, likely putting him beyond the needle&#8217;s reach for the rest of his natural life, based on previous reports.</p><p>Records show Banks, 73, remains jailed at State Correctional Institution at Graterford in Montgomery County, a maximum-security prison that houses 29 death row inmates.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Bardo_mug-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bardo </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_Bardo_mug-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bardo </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader file </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_bardo.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Michael Bardo enters court on Tuesday at the Luzerne County Courthouse. The child killer will be spending the rest of his life behind bars after being taken off death row. He was convicted of first-degree murder for the strangulation death of his 3-year-old niece, Joelle Donovan, in 1992. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_bardo.jpg</photo1><caption1>Michael Bardo enters court on Tuesday at the Luzerne County Courthouse. The child killer will be spending the rest of his life behind bars after being taken off death row. He was convicted of first-degree murder for the strangulation death of his 3-year-old niece, Joelle Donovan, in 1992. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Joe Dolinsky</p><p>jdolinsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Man convicted in 1992 child killing taken off death row, re-sentenced to life in prison