In a meeting in his home on January 15, 1987, Dwyer discussed the idea of a press conference with his press secretary James “Duke” Horshock[61] and Deputy Treasurer Don Johnson.[62] At the meeting, both Horshock and Johnson cautioned Dwyer not to use the conference to attack the governor or other individuals involved with his criminal conviction, and both suggested to Dwyer that he should have the conference at a location other than his office. Dwyer angrily rejected their suggestion, but nevertheless assured both men that he would not attack anybody involved with his conviction. He said that he would not announce his resignation at the conference, but rather thank his staff and friends. Both men left assuming Dwyer would ultimately resign at the conference, although Horshock had fears that Dwyer would break his promise.[62]

The next day, Dwyer and his wife Joanne visited his lawyer, Paul Killion, who told Dwyer to express repentance for his crimes. Dwyer responded by agreeing to change his “version of events”, which was to be presented to Judge Muir at Dwyer’s pre-sentencing conference scheduled for the afternoon of January 22. During the meeting, Killion became concerned about Dwyer and confided in Joanne, asking if Dwyer was capable of harming himself, which Joanne responded by saying that he “loves life too much”.[63] Dwyer later saw Killion again, gave him an updated “version of events”, and stated that he would announce his resignation at the press conference, yet did not want Killion to attend the conference.[63]

On January 20, Dwyer wrote a letter to then-Senator Joe Biden and Congressman Peter W. Rodino, who were at the time the chairs of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Judiciary Committee respectively, asking them to conduct an investigation into the CTA affair, to reform the justice system in the United States, and if this was not done, to completely remove the word “justice” from everything related to the DOJ.[64] The same day, Dwyer was visited by his personal friends, bail bondsman Harvey Childs and his wife Linda, during which Dwyer claimed that he could not have taken a bribe because he could not have accounted for it, and watched the inauguration of Governor Bob Casey on television, lamenting that he should have been Lieutenant Governor for William Scranton III, the Republican candidate who lost the gubernatorial election to Casey.[63]

Dwyer finally reached U.S. Senator Arlen Specter by telephone on January 21, two days before his sentencing. A Specter aide stated that the two of them talked for eight to ten minutes.[65] He then wrote personally to President Ronald Reagan asking for a presidential pardon. In his letter, Dwyer once again professed his innocence and stated that the concept of immediate credit was not understood by the uneducated, unsophisticated “rural” jury at his trial.[further explanation needed][66] The senator responded that this request to President Reagan was “not realistic” because the judicial process, including appeals, had not yet finished.[65][59][67]

On the same day, Dwyer asked his press secretary Horshock and deputy press secretary Gregory Penny to schedule a news conference for the next day without telling them what he was to discuss.[68][69] Horshock arranged the press conference for 10:30 a.m. EST the next day, January 22. The press secretary summoned dozens of reporters asking them to attend, and told them he did not know its subject.[2][69]

Dwyer wanted to ban certain reporters from the press conference who he believed wrote biased accounts about him and even suggested that a guard should be in attendance to prevent entry to those who were not on his authorized list. Horshock, who was unconvinced about Dwyer’s claims that he was being conspired against, objected, stating to Dwyer that he could not “use state government facilities to manipulate the free flow of information”.[63]

Before the press conference, acting U.S. Attorney West, who had secured the conviction against Dwyer, remarked that a resignation “sounds like the appropriate thing to do under the circumstances. It seems like it would save everybody a lot of time and aggravation.”[2] Similarly, Harrisburg Patriot-News reporter Kenn Marshall described the consensus among reporters: they would be attending to see Dwyer announce his resignation from his office. “My mission was to stay there until he said those words, then call in a new top for our story.”[70]

The night before the press conference, Dwyer wrote the following note:

I enjoy being with Jo so much, the next 20 years or so would have been wonderful. Tomorrow is going to be so difficult and I hope I can go through with it.[13]

Press statement

The next morning, Dwyer went to his press conference as planned. Standing behind a large wood table that separated him from nine television cameras, four wire service photographers and about 20 television, radio and newspaper reporters,[71] he began reading from a 21-page prepared text, while aides handed a 20-page version to the media. The final page was expected to be his announcement that he would resign from office.

Appearing agitated, Dwyer again professed his innocence and accused acting U.S. Attorney James West, FBI agents, U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Muir, the media and others for abusing the justice system and ruining him.[59] Dwyer stated that Attorney West purposely held his trial not in Harrisburg but in Williamsport, due to it being located in Lycoming County, one of the most uneducated counties in Pennsylvania.[64] Dwyer spoke out against the death penalty and expressed regret for voting in favor of it while he was in the Pennsylvania assembly. This speech lasted nearly 30 minutes, and approximately halfway through it, some of the gathered press began to pack and leave. Dwyer spotted this and interrupted himself to say, “Those of you who are putting your cameras away, I think you ought to stay because we’re not, we’re not finished yet.”[69]

Given the sensitive nature of portions of Dwyer’s text, press secretary Horshock had considered interrupting him outright to stop him but concluded that he would hold his own press conference after Dwyer’s. “I had to make it known that I was not aware of the content of the statement. I didn’t want it to be thought that I wrote that for him.”[62]

Upon reaching the final page of his statement, which had not been distributed to the press nor press secretary Horshock in advance, Dwyer paused. “And I’m on the last page now, and I don’t have enough to pass out, but Duke [Horshock], I’ll leave this here, and you can make copies for the people; there’s a few extra copies here right now.”[72] Dwyer continued, sacrifice of my life is not in vain.

After deciding to break from his speech, Dwyer called to three of his staffers, giving each a sealed envelope with the insignia of the treasury department.[62] The first envelope, given to Bob Holste, contained a letter addressed to then-Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey, who had assumed office just two days earlier. The second, given to deputy press secretary Gregory Penny, contained an organ donor card and other related materials. The last, given to Deputy Treasurer Don Johnson, contained materials intended for Dwyer’s family, including three letters: one for his wife Joanne, and one for each of his children, Rob and DeeDee (Dyan),[73] and suggested funeral arrangements.[62][13]

Freelance photographer Gary Miller, one of the reporters in attendance, described the scene at this time, stating: “It was just kind of a long-winded, sad event.”[70]

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