12-30 years added to sentence of life without parole
A life sentence is not long enough for a Penn Township man who fatally shot his girlfriend's lover in the back two years ago, a Westmoreland County judge determined Monday.
Jason Maple, 27, was formally sentenced to spend life in prison without the possibility of parole for the May 30, 2006, slaying of 25-year-old William Teck of Hempfield along the railroad tracks in Manor.
Judge Richard E. McCormick Jr. then ordered Maple to serve a consecutive sentence of 12 to 30 years more in prison for attempting to kill and then rob Teck's friend, Patrick Altman. Maple fired one shot at Altman, but missed, according to trial testimony.
McCormick castigated Maple, a former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, for using military techniques to execute Teck.
"This was as close to a military operation as it gets. You determined William Teck was not going to live out the next few hours of his life," McCormick said. "The only thing you weren't able to accomplish was killing Patrick Altman."
In September, a jury convicted Maple of first-degree murder. Prosecutors said Maple, his girlfriend Jennifer Vinsek, and three other men tracked Teck to Manor and then lured him from a diner to the railroad tracks.
Maple followed Teck and Altman, came up from behind and shot Teck once in the back as he tried to run away.
The vision of Teck's final moments haunts his mother.
"It's ruined my life," said Teck's mother, Brenda Nemec. "I can't believe someone hunted him down like he was an animal. It's a nightmare I can't wake up from."
Maple claimed he became enraged after he was told by Vinsek that Teck had threatened to rape her and had ransacked her Greensburg apartment. Witnesses also testified that Vinsek and Teck had become intimate in the weeks that led up to the shooting.
"I just snapped," Maple told jurors.
After Maple fatally shot Teck he fired another round at Altman, who managed to escape without injury.
In court yesterday, Maple made no statement before he was sentenced.
Vinsek, 27, is serving life in prison on a second-degree murder conviction.
Adamsburg brothers DeWayne and Nathan Shank and Ryan Bronowski of Irwin pleaded guilty last month to third-degree murder, robbery and other offenses.
The trio, who testified against Vinsek and Maple, said they thought they were helping in a plot to steal money and drugs from Teck and Altman. But all they got were some quarters, some toiletries and some clothes.
The three are scheduled to be sentenced in January.
