Early years
David Hammer, the oldest of three children, grew up in an abusive and impoverished family. Often, the Hammer family of five lived out of their car. David would sleep in the trunk while the younger two children slept in the passenger compartment. They would fish in nearby creeks for food. At age 7, Hammer worked alongside his parents laying irrigation pipes, and by 9 he was working with them in the fields. Hammer attended 21 different schools in 10 years before dropping out of high school in his sophomore year. There was no stability in his childhood. Hammer had no chance to make meaningful friendships. The neglect and poverty in which Hammer lived was shadowed by repeated sexual assaults and physical and emotional abuse inflicted by both of his parents. What Hammer experienced was tantamount to torture. The abuse began at the age of 5. The horrors included, after being sexually assaulted, Hammer's mother giving him ‘enemas’ of near boiling water and hot sauce to “burn the evil out of him.” The depth of his mother's cruelty was limitless. At age 7, a great uncle had given the Hammer children each their own puppy. A week later, Hammer's mother blamed David for his brother's puppy being hit by a car. To ‘teach him a lesson,’ she made Hammer scoop up the corpse and put it in a gunny sack. She then hit Hammer, screaming incoherently, then commanded him to fill a second gunny sack with rocks. To his horror, she put the two remaining puppies into the sack and hit them repeatedly with the shovel. When Hammer tried to stop her, she slapped and kicked him. Afterwards, she made him carry the sack with her to a nearby pond and they threw it in the water. Smiling, she told him to never tell anyone. Over the years, the sexual and mental abuse, the ‘enemas,’ and the beatings continued. Hammer was beaten with extension cords, hair brushes (the bristle side), ash trays, open hands and closed fists. At 13, Hammer found the courage to run away. He was gone for several weeks before returning. He tried to start his own business by selling baby chicks at Eastertime. At age 15, desperate to escape his home life and abusers, Hammer quit school and left the house for good. He lived on the streets, worked low-paying jobs and began taking drugs, “hustling and searching for love and acceptance.” Hammer learned to advocate for himself and became an avid reader, spending borrowed money to buy books. At 16, Hammer thought he found love and got married, though subsequently divorced. By 18, he had opened a game room and was able to sell the business for $15,000. At age 14, realizing he needed help, some type of emotional support and mental health counseling, Hammer, on his own, sought treatment. When the psychologist contacted his parents, they refused to participate or support his treatment. He continued with treatment on his own, including both inpatient and outpatient and for drug use in Oklahoma hospitals, until he was 19.Criminal history
Despite moments of small success, Hammer continued to use drugs to cope with his past. At age 19, in January 1978, while high on PCP, Hammer realized he needed help and, hoped to obtain treatment, went to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital where he had been previously hospitalized in their mental health unit. His bizarre behavior attracted the attention of a hospital security guard. Hammer brandished a pistol, believing it was unloaded, shouting, “I need help!” In his drug-induced state, Hammer took 3 people hostage. After hours of failed negotiations, a SWAT team finally caught him and took him in. Since the age of 19, most of Hammer's time in prison was spent in special housing or solitary confinement, for a multitude of offenses: larceny, escape, the hostage takings, and telephoning in a bomb threat. After two escapes, Oklahoma County prosecutors charged him with kidnapping, robbery using a firearm, and shooting with intent to kill. Convicted, the judge sentenced Hammer to 400 consecutive years on each count. In all, Hammer was serving 1232 years for multiple Oklahoma convictions. An Oklahoma post-conviction application challenging the truth of the shooting/kidnap victim's testimony identifying Hammer was granted in part after the judge found the victim's trial testimony was false and not credible. The Oklahoma judge ordered a sentence modification hearing for Hammer. Once known as a conman and prankster, Hammer ordered a dozen roses be delivered to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary Warden using the warden's assistant's credit card. He then alerted local media to the prank. In December 1993, Oklahoma and Bureau of Prisons (BOP) agreed to place Hammer into Federal BOP custody where he serve out his Oklahoma sentence. Hammer has BOP ID# 24507-077.Death sentence
In September 1996, the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania charged Hammer with the April 1996 death of his cellmate, 27-year-old Andrew Hunt Marti (BOP # 58008-065). Hammer and Marti were both housed in the Special Housing Unit at the U.S. Penitentiary – Allenwood. The government alleged Hammer strangled Marti using a piece of cell-made cord while both men were housed in the Special Housing Unit at U.S.P.-Allenwood. In June 1998, midway through his jury trial, Hammer plead guilty. On November 4, 1998, the Federal District Judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania sentenced Hammer to death. On January 14, 1999 at 10:00 A.M., Hammer was scheduled to die by lethal injection. Initially, Hammer resigned himself to his fate, finding no motivation to fight his conviction. He had no plans to fight his death sentence. Later he acquiesced and allowed an appeal to be filed. However, once a Notice of Appeal was filed, he vacillated on his decision to appeal. After arguing to dismiss his own appeal before the Third Circuit, the appeals court agreed. During the next few years, Hammer had multiple execution dates set for January 14, 1999, November 16, 2000, February 2001, and June 8, 2004. Weeks before his first execution date, Hammer contacted Sister Camille D’Arienzo, a Sister of Mercy, asking for prayers for him and his victim. Sister Camille traveled from New York to USP-Allenwood with a laicized priest to visit Hammer just 2 weeks from his scheduled execution. Sister Camille became Hammer's spiritual advisor. Once BOP transferred Hammer to USP-Terre Haute, Sister Camille arranged for Sister Rita Clare Gerardot, a Sister of Providence from St. Mary's of the Woods, to visit him on a regular basis. With the support, encouragement and counseling of Sisters Camille and Rita Clare, Hammer found new meaning and devoted his time in prison to help others. Before the Christmas holidays, he created artwork which the Sisters used to create and print holiday cards for sale. The Sisters ensured, at Hammer's request, that the money raised was donated to organizations that helped abused or at-risk youth, and poor and needy children in Haiti and Jamaica. Over several years, Hammer helped to raise $92,000 to help impoverished children like Hammer. Sisters Camille and Rita Clare remained his spiritual advisors and friends. On October 25, 2000, a Pennsylvania U.S. District Judge postponed Hammer's second execution date scheduled for November 16, 2000 to allow Hammer time to appeal. Had the execution gone forward, Hammer would have been the first prisoner executed by the federal government in 37 years. Hammer credits the nine-year-old daughter ofLife in prison
At the time of his resentencing, Hammer had long been classified as a BOP Medical Care Level 3 inmate. In early 2015, after 18 years in solitary confinement, BOP transferred Hammer directly to USP-Tucson, one of the few BOP prisons able to accept Care Level 3 inmates. Within a few months, they hospitalized Hammer for a partial amputation of his right foot for osteomyelitis, a bone infection. The amputation did not cure his condition, and BOP reclassified him to a Care Level 4. In early 2016, BOP transferred Hammer to MCFP-Springfield, a medical prison. In 2017, a further right foot amputation removed the ulcerated area. He also suffered a minor stroke in August 2017. Hammer's blindness became almost total. In March 2018, BOP moved Hammer toReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, David Paul 1958 births 2019 deaths People from Hughes County, Oklahoma American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States federal government People convicted of murder by the United States federal government Inmates of ADX Florence