ORANGE — Prosecutors said Friday the couple accused of murdering 95-year-old Thomas A. Harty broke into his home to steal a car and money to help them flee from the state. In the process, they stabbed and suffocated Harty and left his wife with a slashed throat but still alive.
Joshua Hart, 23, and 27-year-old Brittany E. Smith, both of Athol, pleaded innocent Friday in Orange District Court to the murder of Harty during that Oct. 5 home invasion.
Following the arraignment before Judge Laurie MacLeod, a dour Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan described the killing of the “kind and generous” Orange resident and World War II veteran as senseless and brutal.
Sullivan took the opportunity to thank many local and Virginia law enforcement agencies for their parts in the investigation, citing in particular the Orange and Athol police.
Smith and Hart will be held without bail until Dec. 20, when their pretrial conferences are scheduled.
Orange Police Chief Craig Lundgren said the crime has been devastating to the town.
“Everybody knows everybody else. These poor victims, I’ve known my entire life,” he said. “You want to go home at night thinking that things like this don’t happen in a small community. But they do.
“But it’s going to make the Orange Police Department more vigilant,” he added. “We’re going to do what we can do to keep the community safe.”
Both Hart and Smith were charged with murder, attempted murder, home invasion, armed robbery, conspiracy, larceny over $250, larceny of a motor vehicle, and receiving stolen property.
The defendants face a mandatory sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole on the charge of murder.
Hart has a criminal history in Pennsylvania where he lived before moving to Athol early this year, and Smith is native of the area.
Harty and his 77-year-old wife, Joanna Fisher, were found Oct. 6 in their 581 East River St. home by a home health worker. Fisher was transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for treatment of throat wounds. The district attorney today said she is recovering.
The accused couple allegedly stole Harty’s car and fled to Virginia, where they were apprehended over last weekend while in a U-Haul truck in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The stolen car was later recovered elsewhere in Virginia.
The two were extradited and returned to Massachusetts this week for the arraignment that happened late Friday morning. In a side room separated by glass, Hart and Smith appeared individually before MacLeod. Neither said a word, though Smith began to cry as she was led away by court officers. Before Hart and Smith were presented, the packed courtroom was emptied at 11:34 a.m. for a security sweep that lasted roughly six minutes.
Television news trucks were in the parking lot as early as 8:15 a.m., before the building opened at 8:30. Court officers and authorities from the Orange Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police and Franklin County Sheriff’s Office stood in a section of the parking lot cordoned off with orange traffic cones so the suspects could be safely escorted inside when they arrived.
Carl Sauter, who identified himself as a family friend of the victims, said he is still reeling from the pain but he takes solace in knowing the suspects cannot hurt anyone right now.
“I’m glad that they were apprehended. Nobody should get away scot-free with this,” he said, fighting back tears. “Mr. Harty was a victim of circumstance and his spirit will live on in many ways.”
Harty has been described as a pillar of his community. Nearly 96 years old, he was an avid hiker and mountain climber and was still active outdoors. Harty served in the Navy during World War II, and had worked at a local foundry for 45 years. At 95, he was still working for Donbeck Sales, a family business, in Orange. He had also been a Boy Scout troop leader.
“He was generally a role model. He was someone people could look forward to emulating,” said Sauter, who added that he had known Harty for about 20 years. “He was really fulfilling a good life and a lot of people would look at that and say, ‘I want to be like Tom Harty.’”
According to a statement from the district attorney, the suspects had hoped to steal Harty and Fisher’s vehicle to flee, because they had been arrested days earlier on car theft charges. Hart, who had outstanding warrants in his home state of Pennsylvania, wanted to avoid jail and Smith did not want to go to drug treatment, according to the district attorney. The suspects targeted a home with an older model vehicle that did not have tracking technology, according to the statement.
Sauter stressed that he hopes this crime paints a better picture of what the drug epidemic is doing to this area. Hart has faced drug charges in Pennsylvania and Smith’s mother told police her daughter was a heroin addict.
“If people see something, they should report it. Anything,” Sauter said.
Prosecutors allege the suspects entered the home through a door off the garage and immediately began attacking the victims, who were watching television. Fisher was struck in the head with a hard object and pushed out of her wheelchair.
Both victims were beaten and stabbed during the home invasion, which lasted approximately two hours, prosecutors said. The suspects attempted unsuccessfully to kill Fisher first by cutting her throat and then by trying to suffocate her. Harty was suffocated with a pillow.
Prosecutors allege that following the attack, the suspects ransacked the home in search of money and then fled, taking the victims’ credit and debit cards and the keys to a gray/silver 2003 Toyota Corolla station wagon.
According to the prosecutors, after the attackers fled, Fisher crawled to try to call for help and learned the suspects had disabled the phone in the residence and had stolen Harty’s cell phone. Health care workers discovered Fisher when making a regularly scheduled visit at roughly 9 a.m. on Oct. 6 and called the authorities. Fisher described to law enforcement her attackers’ appearance.
A card stolen from Fisher was used to make a debit card transaction at a Worcester-area Wal-Mart within hours of the suspects fleeing. They were captured on video surveillance shopping together and using the stolen debit card, and officers involved in the investigation recognized the man and woman as Hart and Smith, who also matched Fisher’s description.
According to prosecutors, Hart and Smith admitted to authorities they had armed themselves before entering the home. They said Hart murdered Harty and tried to help Smith kill Fisher.
A fund has been started to help Fisher and her family with the expenses of her long-term recovery. Contributions can be submitted to The Joanna Fisher Fund, c/o TD Bank, 2156 Main Street, Athol, MA 01331.