Greensburg woman resentenced for 2010 torture killing of mentally disabled victim | TribLIVE.com
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Greensburg woman resentenced for 2010 torture killing of mentally disabled victim

Rich Cholodofsky
| Tuesday, May 31, 2022 6:00 p.m.
Westmoreland County Prison
Angela Marinucci in 2010

The youngest member of a group of six Greensburg roommates convicted for the 2010 torture slaying of a mentally disabled woman will be eligible for parole at the age of 78 under a new sentence imposed Tuesday.

Angela Marinucci, now 29, was resentenced to a term of 60 years to life in prison for her role in the stabbing death of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty of Mt. Pleasant.

“I can’t think of anything in my whole career that affected me like this case has,” Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Rita Hathaway said as she sentenced Marinucci for the third time.

Marinucci was 17 when she was charged with first-degree murder for the February 2010 killing. She was convicted after a trial in 2011 and sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A state appeals court overturned that sentence based on a federal court ruling that invalidated most life without parole sentences for juveniles, including for those prosecuted as adults. After another hearing in 2015, Hathaway again sentenced Marinucci to life without parole, a penalty the state appeals court also invalidated.

On Tuesday, Hathaway imposed a 40-year to life sentence for first-degree murder and a consecutive prison term of 20 to 40 years for conspiracy. Marinucci was given credit for the 12 years she has served since her arrest in 2010. She will be eligible for parole in 2070.

Daugherty’s sister, Joy Burkholder, said the last 12 years have been difficult, and family members are hopeful Tuesday’s sentencing hearing will be a final court appearance.

“Forty-eight (more) years is a long time, and 48 years doesn’t mean parole will be granted. I believe in the judicial system and that this will be worthy of Jennifer’s memory,” Burkholder said. “It’s been emotional and trying for everyone.”

Burkholder’s family, including Daugherty’s mother and stepfather, attended nearly every court hearing for Marinucci and her five co-defendants over the last dozen years, a fact the judge noted during a 30-minute statement she read in announcing the new sentence.

Hathaway said she believed Marinucci has not fully accepted responsibility for her actions and disputed defense claims that her young age at the time of the killing mitigated the crime.

Prosecutors described Marinucci as the key player who lured Daugherty to Greensburg and initiated the violence that ultimately led to her death after she was held captive for more than two days. According to trial evidence, Daugherty was beaten by the group with a towel rack, forced to take prescription medications, fed concoctions of cleaning chemicals, spices, human feces and urine, was raped and bound with Christmas lights and garland before she was stabbed in the heart. Daugherty’s body was stuffed into a plastic trash can and left under a truck parked in a snow-covered parking lot at a Greensburg school.

Witnesses said the group convened four “family meetings” to determine Daugherty’s fate, including one session where they unanimously voted to end her life.

Dr. Louis Martone, a defense-hired forensic psychiatrist, testified Tuesday that Marinucci continues to minimize her involvement in the torture and killing and claims she did not participate in the vote that decided Daugherty’s fate.

Marinucci, who appeared at Tuesday’s hearing by video from a room at the State Correctional Institution at Cambridge Springs where she is currently incarcerated, briefly apologized for her actions, discussed her ongoing mental health treatment and detailed her effort to rehabilitate herself.

“I never intended for her precious life to be taken. I know my putting hands on Jennifer was wrong,” Marinucci said. “I take full responsibility for what I did.”

Five others were convicted for their roles in Daugherty’s torture and killing. Melvin Knight, 32. of Swissvale, and Ricky Smyrnes, 36, of North Huntingdon were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Amber Meidinger, 32, of Greensburg pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and is serving a 40- to 80-year prison sentence. Meidinger served as a key prosecution witness during the trials for Marinucci, Knight and Smyrnes.

Peggy Miller, 39, and Robert Masters Jr., 48, also pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Miller was sentenced to 35 to 74 years in prison while Masters was ordered to serve 30 to 70 years behind bars.

Prosecutors previously said that only Marinucci’s age prevented them from seeking the death penalty in her case. Marinucci was about four months shy of her 18th birthday when she was charged with Daugherty’s killing. She will turn 30 in July.

Prosecutors on Tuesday did not specifically ask that another life sentence be imposed against Marinucci.

“We asked for the maximum sentence the judge felt was appropriate,” District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli said.

Defense attorney Mike DeMatt, who has served as Marinucci’s lawyer since her arrest, said he will appeal the new sentence.

The judge, meanwhile, said she crafted a sentence that anticipated another appeal and preemptively defended her ruling.

“The appeals court is reading a cold record. They didn’t see the face of Jennifer. They didn’t see what she looked like after being tortured and killed,” Hathaway said.


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