Michael Burch, a 23-year-old White/Caucasian male from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was walking with his friend Andrew Oberst on June 21, 2018, when the afternoon turned violent on the first block of East Penn Street in Carlisle. Police said the shooting happened around 3:45 p.m. as the two men were headed toward a convenience store. A sport utility vehicle pulled up near them, and gunfire erupted from the driver’s side. About seven shots were fired. Oberst ran for cover behind a parked car and was not injured, but Burch collapsed when the shooting stopped. Neighbors gathered and tried to help him, but he died at the scene from his injuries.
In the first hours after the killing, Carlisle police described the shooting as targeted and said witnesses had seen two suspects flee in a maroon or red SUV. Police later recovered the vehicle nearby, around Lincoln Avenue, and said it was a rental. Investigators worked from witness accounts, surveillance footage, vehicle evidence, and phone records to trace what happened after the SUV left the scene. The investigation eventually focused on Craig Ryan Hines Jr., who authorities said had been connected to the rental vehicle through Charles Cuff, a former partner of Hines’s mother. Cuff testified that he had rented the vehicle for Hines a few weeks before the shooting.
Police arrested Hines on August 31, 2018, in the 100 block of North Pitt Street in Carlisle. He was charged in connection with Burch’s death, including criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and persons not to possess firearms. At the time of his arrest, police also searched Hines and his vehicle and reported finding suspected crack cocaine, suspected marijuana, suspected cocaine, suspected heroin, prescription pills, drug paraphernalia, and more than $2,000. Authorities said additional drug-related charges would be filed separately.
At trial, prosecutors built the case around the SUV, surveillance footage, phone-location evidence, and items found in the vehicle. A witness saw the SUV speed away and noted its license plate. Investigators found bullet casings inside the vehicle, along with medical records and transaction paperwork bearing Hines’s name. An FBI special agent testified that two phones associated with Hines were moving together in the area of the shooting at the relevant time. Surveillance videos showed the SUV traveling away from the scene and parking, and police followed the movement of two people from that area through the neighborhood. A detective later identified Hines from convenience-store footage, relying on prior knowledge of him from Carlisle.
Hines’s defense tried to point the jury toward another possible explanation, including text messages found on Burch’s phone that suggested a possible drug transaction with another person around the time of the shooting. The trial court limited parts of that evidence because of authentication issues, but testimony still reached the jury that the messages appeared to involve drug activity. On appeal, Hines argued that the limits on the text-message evidence hurt his ability to present a defense, but the appellate court later found that the theory had, in fact, been placed before the jury.
On June 18, 2021, a jury found Hines guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, persons not to possess firearms, carrying a firearm without a license, and recklessly endangering another person. After a penalty phase, the jury determined that Hines should receive life in prison without the possibility of parole. The court formally imposed that sentence on July 27, 2021. Hines filed post-sentence motions, which were denied, and then appealed.
In January 2024, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed Hines’s conviction and sentence. The court rejected his challenges to evidentiary rulings, including arguments about a witness’s recorded police interview and the limits placed on questioning about text messages from Burch’s phone. The appellate decision left intact the judgment against Hines: a first-degree murder conviction and life imprisonment without parole for the killing of Michael Burch.
