Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 18, 2006 3:29:33 GMT -5
Tall and blond, with a degree in engineering and a prestigious career in the insurance industry on her resume, Heather Lavelle doesn't fit the mold of a killer.
But now that she's pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the grisly torture slaying of Christian Rojas, she's poised to take her place in one of Pennsylvania's state penitentiaries, possibly on death row.
That choice will be up to Bucks County Judge Rea Boylan. The judge accepted Lavelle's guilty plea Friday, one day after Lavelle's
co-defendant entered his own plea. Both will be sentenced next week, following penalty phase hearings in Doylestown.
"Looking at what evidence the commonwealth had available, we feel this is the best way to proceed," said Lavelle's attorney, Mark Douple.
Lavelle, 35, of Bensalem, admitted that she killed Rojas, 28, on Aug. 24.
She acknowledged police reports that said she and her boyfriend, James Savage, 39, of Bristol Township, ambushed Rojas in his Bristol Road, Bensalem, apartment then beat him to death with brass knuckles.
Rojas, a computer programmer and native of Costa Rica, was found hog-tied in a bathtub filled with bloody water. Lavelle and Savage were arrested on Sept. 1 after leading police on a chase all the way to Nags Head, N.C.
At his guilty plea hearing Thursday, Savage said he attacked Rojas, Lavelle's former boyfriend, because Lavelle claimed he'd raped her.
Savage, who had agreed to testify against Lavelle had she gone to trial, said he knows Lavelle lied and that she plotted the murder so she could steal Rojas' money to buy crack cocaine.
At her sentencing hearing next week, Lavelle's attorneys, Douple and Michael Goodwin, will argue numerous mitigating factors in an effort to convince Boylan to spare her life.
The attorneys will present evidence that Savage bullied Lavelle and that she was not in her usual state of mind at the time of the killing because she was high on crack in addition to a turbulent childhood and long history of substance addiction. The defense also plans to tell Boylan about the good things Lavelle has done in her life and her desire to change.
Lavelle, who holds a degree in civil engineering, was a rising star in the insurance world, working as an assistant vice president with Ace Casualty Risk in downtown Philadelphia before she became addicted to crack.
An October 2002 press release announcing Lavelle's promotion in the company's new environmental risk division proclaimed: "Lavelle brings to ACE 10 years of experience in environmental underwriting and product management."
Douple said that if Boylan imposes a life sentence instead of capital punishment, Lavelle will use her time in prison wisely.
"It is her hope that she will be able to educate people about the things she went through so that they won't take the tragic turn she did," he said.
If Boylan sentences Lavelle to death, she will be the first Bucks County judge to do so since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977. Lavelle will also become the first Bucks woman on Pennsylvania's death row.
Lavelle did not testify during the hearing and refused to answer questions as she was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles.
A family friend, who asked that she not be identified, said after the hearing that Rojas was a "sweet" man who tried to help Lavelle. Even after he ended their relationship because he found out Lavelle used drugs, he still cared about her and even allowed her to live at his apartment when she found herself homeless.
Prosecutors played voice mail messages left on Rojas' phone in the weeks before the slaying. In one series of calls Lavelle could be heard crying, begging Rojas in a highpitched tone to please pick up the phone because she needed his help.
A message left a week later was starkly different.
"Christian. Call me the (expletive) back NOW," Lavelle demanded in a cold, deep voice.
The family friend said Rojas was days away from accepting his "dream job," a position with an American company that was setting up shop in Costa Rica, when he was murdered.
"He just wanted to go home. He was homesick," she said.
(source : Bucks County Courier Times)
But now that she's pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the grisly torture slaying of Christian Rojas, she's poised to take her place in one of Pennsylvania's state penitentiaries, possibly on death row.
That choice will be up to Bucks County Judge Rea Boylan. The judge accepted Lavelle's guilty plea Friday, one day after Lavelle's
co-defendant entered his own plea. Both will be sentenced next week, following penalty phase hearings in Doylestown.
"Looking at what evidence the commonwealth had available, we feel this is the best way to proceed," said Lavelle's attorney, Mark Douple.
Lavelle, 35, of Bensalem, admitted that she killed Rojas, 28, on Aug. 24.
She acknowledged police reports that said she and her boyfriend, James Savage, 39, of Bristol Township, ambushed Rojas in his Bristol Road, Bensalem, apartment then beat him to death with brass knuckles.
Rojas, a computer programmer and native of Costa Rica, was found hog-tied in a bathtub filled with bloody water. Lavelle and Savage were arrested on Sept. 1 after leading police on a chase all the way to Nags Head, N.C.
At his guilty plea hearing Thursday, Savage said he attacked Rojas, Lavelle's former boyfriend, because Lavelle claimed he'd raped her.
Savage, who had agreed to testify against Lavelle had she gone to trial, said he knows Lavelle lied and that she plotted the murder so she could steal Rojas' money to buy crack cocaine.
At her sentencing hearing next week, Lavelle's attorneys, Douple and Michael Goodwin, will argue numerous mitigating factors in an effort to convince Boylan to spare her life.
The attorneys will present evidence that Savage bullied Lavelle and that she was not in her usual state of mind at the time of the killing because she was high on crack in addition to a turbulent childhood and long history of substance addiction. The defense also plans to tell Boylan about the good things Lavelle has done in her life and her desire to change.
Lavelle, who holds a degree in civil engineering, was a rising star in the insurance world, working as an assistant vice president with Ace Casualty Risk in downtown Philadelphia before she became addicted to crack.
An October 2002 press release announcing Lavelle's promotion in the company's new environmental risk division proclaimed: "Lavelle brings to ACE 10 years of experience in environmental underwriting and product management."
Douple said that if Boylan imposes a life sentence instead of capital punishment, Lavelle will use her time in prison wisely.
"It is her hope that she will be able to educate people about the things she went through so that they won't take the tragic turn she did," he said.
If Boylan sentences Lavelle to death, she will be the first Bucks County judge to do so since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977. Lavelle will also become the first Bucks woman on Pennsylvania's death row.
Lavelle did not testify during the hearing and refused to answer questions as she was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles.
A family friend, who asked that she not be identified, said after the hearing that Rojas was a "sweet" man who tried to help Lavelle. Even after he ended their relationship because he found out Lavelle used drugs, he still cared about her and even allowed her to live at his apartment when she found herself homeless.
Prosecutors played voice mail messages left on Rojas' phone in the weeks before the slaying. In one series of calls Lavelle could be heard crying, begging Rojas in a highpitched tone to please pick up the phone because she needed his help.
A message left a week later was starkly different.
"Christian. Call me the (expletive) back NOW," Lavelle demanded in a cold, deep voice.
The family friend said Rojas was days away from accepting his "dream job," a position with an American company that was setting up shop in Costa Rica, when he was murdered.
"He just wanted to go home. He was homesick," she said.
(source : Bucks County Courier Times)