In the summer of 1986, a grim plot unfolded in Philadelphia, culminating in a brutal attack that left one person dead and another seriously injured. The orchestrator of this violence was Richard Hackett, a man who, along with his friend Marvin Spence, conspired to kill Gregory Ogrod. Their motives were rooted in personal conflicts; Hackett’s arose from a contentious living situation in Ogrod’s house, while Spence’s stemmed from a soured drug-dealing partnership.
The conspiracy grew to include others, as Hackett and Spence attempted to hire a man named David Carter for the murder, offering him $5,000.
In the pre-dawn hours of July 31, 1986, three men, armed with knives and a crowbar, stealthily entered the basement where Gregory Ogrod and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Maureen Dunne, were sleeping. The intruders unleashed a vicious assault on the couple, repeatedly stabbing and clubbing them. In the chaos, Maureen Dunne was tragically stabbed in the heart and died from her injuries. Despite the surprise attack, Ogrod managed to fight back, and his resistance caused the assailants to flee. As they ran, Ogrod recognized one of them as Marvin Spence.
The investigation that followed unraveled the conspiracy led by Hackett and Spence. Evidence presented at trial established that Hackett had a key to Ogrod's home and was one of the few people who knew the couple would be sleeping in the basement. Following a jury trial in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Richard Hackett was convicted of murder of the first degree, aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime, and criminal conspiracy. For his role in the murder of Maureen Dunne, Hackett was sentenced to death. His co-conspirators, Marvin Spence, James Gray, and Keith Barrett, were also convicted of first-degree murder. Spence also received a death sentence, while Gray and Barrett were sentenced to life in prison.
