HARRISBURG, Pa. — A former teen killer serving consecutive life sentences for murdering a woman and her 2-year-old son in 1984 was denied relief of his sentences at a hearing Friday, Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo announced.
John Earl Lebo Jr. was 16 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, indecent assault, and theft in connection to the murders of Lana Hahn, 25, and her 2-year-old son, Morgan C. Eugene Hahn II, Chardo said.
Prior to the murders, Lebo kidnapped Hahn and her son at gunpoint, forced them on a 50-minute march in bitter cold weather, and committed an indecent assault on Hahn before killing both victims with a shotgun.
Lebo was sentenced to consecutive life sentences by Judge Warren G. Morgan on Oct. 5, 1984.
But the U.S. Supreme Court held in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders was unconstitutional, which allowed Lebo to get a resentencing hearing before Judge Scott Arthur Evans in Dauphin County Court.
During the resentencing hearing, Chardo called retired State Police Trooper Daniel Wertz and forensic specialist John S. O'Brien as witnesses.
Wertz testified that at the time of his arrest, Lebo smiled after he described shooting the toddler with the shotgun.
O'Brien testified that Lebo has demonstrated himself to be incapable of rehabilitation.
Evans found that the Commonwealth had met its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Lebo is permanently incorrigible and rehabilitation would be impossible and resentenced Lebo to two consecutive life sentences.
