Greensburg teen torture killer found guilty on all counts
:A Greensburg teenager will spend the rest of her life in prison after she was convicted on Thursday for the torture and murder of Jennifer Daugherty, a mentally challenged woman from Mt. Pleasant.
After four hours of deliberations, a jury of six men and six women convicted Angela Marinucci, 18, of first-degree murder and all other charges.
"This guilty verdict is not a happy celebration for our family, but it is justice (rightly) served. Angela Marinucci is a dangerous woman and will luckily never be free," Joy Burkholder, Daugherty's sister, said in a prepared statement. She spoke to reporters in the lobby of the Westmoreland County Courthouse shortly after the verdict was returned about 6 p.m.
Marinucci, who faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for the first-degree homicide conviction, will be formally sentenced in about three months by Common Pleas Judge Rita Hathaway. She was ineligible for the death penalty because she was 17 when Daugherty was murdered.
Marinucci and five co-defendants are accused of torturing Daugherty for more than two days in a Greensburg apartment before she was stabbed and choked. Daugherty, 30, was tied up, beaten and force-fed concoctions mixed with feces and urine, witnesses told the jury. Her body was found in a garbage can in the lot of Greensburg Salem Middle School on Feb. 11, 2010.
District Attorney John Peck said it was the worst case of torture he has seen in three decades as a prosecutor.
"Jennifer will always be with me," Peck said.
Marinucci showed no emotion as she stood and received the verdict. She had no comment as she was led to a sheriff's car to return to the county prison.
Defense attorney Michael DeMatt said Marinucci immediately asked to appeal the verdict. "She intends to fight this further and wants to appeal," he said.
Daugherty's family members said that the 15 months since her body was discovered have been difficult.
"I think we have a little justice for Jennifer now," said Daugherty's mother, Denise Murphy.
Prosecutors said Marinucci -- along with Ricky Smyrnes, 25; Melvin Knight, 21; Amber Meidinger, 21; Peggy Miller, 28, and Robert Masters, 37 -- shared an apartment on North Pennsylvania Avenue, where they held Daugherty captive.
Witnesses testified that Daugherty was beaten with a metal crutch and towel rack, choked, raped and forced to drink concoctions of urine, feces, cigarette ash, bleach and kitchen spices before she was stabbed through the heart.
Daugherty's hands were bound with Christmas lights, and her feet were tied with garland. Plastic garbage bags covered her body in the trash can, which was wedged under a parked truck.
Daugherty took a bus to Greensburg on Feb. 8. Prosecutors said Marinucci lured Daugherty to Greensburg with the intent to have her killed. They contend that Marinucci was angry about Daugherty's relationship with Smyrnes, Marinucci's boyfriend.
Throughout the nine-day trial, prosecutors maintained that Marinucci urged Smyrnes "to get rid of Jen."
Meidinger, testifying for the prosecution without a plea bargain, told jurors that Marinucci beat Daugherty, sent her text messages from Smyrnes' phone to lure her to Greensburg, and voted with the rest of the group to have her killed.
Peck told the jury during closing arguments that Marinucci egged on the others.
"She intended this and, more importantly, she commanded and encouraged this. She wanted her to die," Peck said. "Had she not inflamed these people in that apartment, Jennifer would be alive today."
Marinucci testified that she was afraid to intervene and save Daugherty out of fear the others would turn on her. She blamed the murder on Knight, Smyrnes and Meidinger.
"Angela did not intend for this to happen. Angela made some big mistakes. The biggest of all was meeting Ricky Smyrnes. But that does not make her guilty," DeMatt told the jury.
Jurors declined comment as they left the courthouse after the verdict.
