Published Saturday, January 11, 2003
his life sentence
A former Farrell man serving a life sentence for murder after a handgun that he lent to a friend was used in a fatal bar holdup will soon be freed from prison, because Gov. Mark S. Schweiker commuted his sentence Friday.
The state's first commutation in eight years came three weeks after the five-member state Pardons Board recommended clemency for Ricki D. Pinkins, who was 21 at the time of the January 1982 shooting.
Pinkins will have to spend a year in a prerelease center and, if he is convicted of another criminal offense or violates any of the terms of his life parole, the clemency would be revoked, said Schweiker's spokesman, Michael Lukens.
"I'm just thrilled by the decision," said Pinkins' court-appointed attorney Randell T. Hetrick. "We've been working on this for three years. ... I think he's very deserving of it."
Support from members of the victim's family and Mercer County District Attorney James P. Epstein was crucial to the success of the application, Hetrick said.
"I just thank God it finally happened after all these years," Pinkins' sister, Janice Wilson of Sharon said Friday night. "He wasn't there, he didn't do it ... it just goes to show if you hold onto hope and keep faith in God (he will come through)."
A telephone number for Pinkins' mother, Emma, was listed as disconnected. Ms. Wilson said her mother wished to keep "her joy to herself."
Upon release, Pinkins is to be hired by a family friend as a maintenance worker at an apartment complex, Hetrick said.
It was not immediately clear when Pinkins would be released, though officials said it would not be Friday. The state Department of Corrections first would need to identify a prerelease center and then process Pinkins, said spokeswoman Susan McNaughton. After a year, he will be eligible for parole, she said.
In his application for clemency, Pinkins said that, if released, "all my actions will definitely show (the victim's family) that I am truly sorry every day of my life."
The Dec. 19 state Pardons Board vote granting clemency for Pinkins -- an inmate at the state prison in Albion, Erie County, since June 3, 1983 -- was unanimous, as required by law. It also was supported by Sharon police and the victim's family.
Pinkins, now 42, said that he loaned his mother's loaded revolver to a friend "for his protection." Later that day, the owner of a Sharon bar, Orland "Peanuts" Porreca, was shot to death with the gun during a robbery. Six men, including Pinkins and the man who borrowed the gun, were charged in the case.
Pinkins was not at the scene of the crime, but was convicted of second-degree murder.
While in prison, he earned a high-school equivalency diploma, took college courses and received training in building maintenance, Pinkins said in his application.
"I want to prove to myself and others that I deserve a chance in society," he wrote. "My mistake will never be forgotten, but I can turn this negative act of bad judgment into a positive reinforcement to others as well as myself."
The board last recommended a commutation for a convicted murder in 1996, but it was rejected by then-Gov. Tom Ridge.
The requirement of a unanimous vote by the board for recommending clemency in cases involving death or life sentences was approved by voters in 1997. That change stemmed largely from the case of Reginald McFadden, who committed two murders and a rape in New York just a few months after then-Gov. Robert P. Casey commuted his life sentence for the 1969 murder of an elderly Philadelphia woman.
William DiMascio, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, a prisoner advocacy group, expressed frustration that McFadden's case made it more difficult for deserving prisoners to receive clemency.
"There is a purpose for the pardons procedure and the commutation procedure and it's such an important part of our government," DiMascio said. "And some of the people who are involved in this now have gone out of their way to make these things virtually impossible."
Herald Staff Writer Erin Palko contributed to this story.