Superior Court upholds decision in 2017 Hornerstown murder

Katie Smolen, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·3 min read

Feb. 7—HARRISBURG, Pa. — A post-sentence motion for relief by a former Johnstown man in relation to his sentence for a 2019 Cambria County murder has been denied by the Pennsylvania Superior Court, upholding a Cambria County judge's decision.

The court issued an order and opinion Friday denying a petition by Larry Benefield Fason, 60, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2017 killing of Angela Lunn.

Lunn's body was found in a trash bin near Fason's Horners- town apartment. Fason was convicted by a Cambria County jury in July 2019 and sentenced to life in prison in September 2019.

Fason appealed to the Superior Court after he had his motion denied in a Feb. 1, 2022, opinion by President Judge Norman A. Krumenacker III.

The Post Conviction Relief Act allows individuals who have pleaded guilty or been found guilty of a crime to argue that a new trial or other relief may be warranted.

Fason appealed to the higher court, questioning whether the trial court made a mistake in finding that his prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to call his next-door neighbor to testify at his trial; whether the trial court erred in finding that Fason's prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to call former Johnstown Police Detective Dan Fisher to testify at his trial, as well as a female police officer to testify; whether the trial court made a mistake in finding that Fason's prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to object to the jury pool hardly having any minorities; whether the trial court made a mistake in finding that Fason's prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to request a change in venue; whether the trial court made a mistake in finding that Fason's prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to prepare him to testify at trial; whether the trial court made a mistake in finding that Fason's prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to investigate his nephew as a potential suspect in the matter; and whether the trial court made a mistake in finding that Fason's prior trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to object to the constant display of the autopsy photographs by the Commonwealth to the jury.

In the opinion written by the Superior Court, the court disagrees with the ineffectiveness claims based on claims that trial counsel, Charles Hoebler, did not call certain witnesses, some of whom were unavailable or deceased. The court noted the record supported Krumenacker's decision to deny the claims.

On Fason's claims related to the jury pool at his trial, the opinion noted that there was no merit to the claims.

"We agree with the PCRA court that there was no arguable merit to an objection to the racial composition of the jury pool and as such, (Fason's) ineffective assistance of counsel claim fails," the opinion said.

Fason is currently serving his life sentence at SCI-Rockview in Centre County.