Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a Greensburg woman who claims her 60-years-to-life prison sentence for her role in the 2010 torture slaying of a mentally disabled woman should be overturned.
Angela Marinucci, 32, has argued the latest sentence imposed in 2022 was unconsitutional and was the product of a biased judge. She was one of six Greensburg roommates who were convicted in the February 2010 slaying of 30-year-old Jennifer Daugherty.
Marinucci was 17 when she was arrested. Prosecutors said she and five others held Daugherty captive for more than two days, beat and tortured her before she was stabbed to death and discarded in a trash can left under a truck in a snow-covered school parking lot.
Prosecutors claim Marinucci initiated the torture of Daugherty and coerced the others to participate in the abuse and killing. She was convicted of first-degree murder following a 2011 trial and initially sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
That sentence was overturned after the state appeals court ruled juveniles are ineligible to face mandatory life prison terms. Another life sentence was imposed in 2017 but also was overturned because it included no potential for parole.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Rita Hathaway in 2022 sentenced Marinucci for a third time. That sentence included consecutive prison terms of 40 years to life for Daugherty’s murder and an additional 20 to 40 years in prison for conspiracy.
Marinucci appealed her latest sentence, again claiming its length violated the state constitution and was based on the judge’s bias.
A three-judge panel of Superior Court judges rejected Marinucci’s appeal in January. Supreme Court justices, in a one-sentence ruling filed Monday in the Westmoreland County Clerk of Courts office, said it would not hear Marinucci’s latest appeal.
Two of Marinucci’s co-defendants, Ricky Smyrnes, 38, of Swissvale and Melvin Knight, 34, of North Huntingdon, were sentenced to death for their role in Daugherty’s killings. They continue to appeal their sentences.
Amber Meidinger, 34, 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, 41, and Robert Masters Jr., 50, also pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Miller was sentenced to 35 to 74 years in prison, and Masters was ordered to serve 30 to 70 years behind bars.
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