DA’s office not seeking death penalty
Lansdale man accused of killing his father pleaded ‘not guilty’ to charges
A Lansdale man who allegedly used a butter knife to fatally stab his adoptive father and “tried to pull out his eye” during an attack at their home will not face the death penalty if convicted of firstdegree murder, prosecutors informed a judge.
“Will the commonwealth be seeking the death penalty?” Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein asked prosecutors on Wednesday as accused killer Preston Alvin Lonnberg-Lane faced his arraignment hearing on murder charges.
“No, your honor,” Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ringwood informed the judge.
Lonnberg-Lane, 30, of the 1000 block of Delaware Avenue, showed no emotion as prosecutors announced the decision.
With the death penalty off the table, if Lonnberg-Lane is convicted of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing, he will face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Under state law, it’s at a formal arraignment hearing where prosecutors must notify a judge about their intentions regarding the death penalty. Lonnberg-Lane’s formal arraignment hearing was on Wednesday.
In order to obtain a death penalty, prosecutors must show that aggravating factors — circumstances that make a killing more heinous – outweigh any mitigating factors – circumstances that favor a defendant. Specifically, prosecutors have 18 aggravating factors, under state law, which they can use to seek the death penalty.
“The district attorney did review all the facts of this case and the applicable statute and in his review did not find sufficient aggravating factors to proceed with the death penalty,” Ringwood explained.
Lonnberg-Lane, who is
represented by defense lawyers Carrie L. Allman and Daniel Theveny Jr., pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the March 27 death of his adoptive father, 74-year-old Thomas Lane, at their single-family residence.
A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
Rothstein set LonnbergLane’s trial date for Jan. 28, 2019. The trial is expected to last five days.
An investigation began at 4:44 a.m. March 27 when Lonnberg-Lane called 911 and reported he “tried to kill everybody in the house.”
“I, I need help…I need, you guys got to get some people here quick…like there’s people dead,” Lonnberg-Lane told emergency dispatchers, according to a criminal complaint. As dispatchers
continued to talk to Lonnberg-Lane he allegedly admitted to hurting someone and uttered, “I need help…there’s something wrong…I don’t know what’s going on…I don’t know what to do,” according to the arrest affidavit.
When Lansdale police arrived at the residence, they found Lonnberg-Lane standing barefoot in the driveway and observed he had an injury to his left hand and blood on his Tshirt, according to court documents.
Another resident of the home directed police to a bedroom where they located Thomas Lane “bloodied and on the floor of the bedroom.” Police said Thomas Lane is the adoptive father of LonnbergLane.
“Thomas Lane had a traumatic right eye avulsion and his eye was located on the floor. Thomas Lane was semi-conscious and officers observed apparent stab wounds to his head, neck and arm,” county Detective John Wittenberger and Lansdale Detective Joel Greco alleged in the arrest affidavit.
“Adjacent to Thomas Lane, officers observed blood stains on top of a bed and a butter knife,” detectives added.
Thomas Lane was transported by medical helicopter to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in critical condition but died two days later, at 2:59 p.m. March 29, court documents indicate. An autopsy determined Thomas Lane’s cause of death was “hyperextensive brain hemorrhage” and the manner of death was listed as homicide.
“Additional pertinent findings were evidence of strangulation and cutting wounds to the head, neck and face,” detectives alleged.
When detectives interviewed Lonnberg-Lane he said he had snorted what he believed to be two bags of fentanyl at 3:30 a.m.
March 27 and attempted to sleep.
“Lonnberg-Lane said he was listening to music and ‘got up and grabbed a butter knife from the kitchen and tried to kill my dad,’” Greco and Wittenberger alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Lonnberg-Lane allegedly told detectives he stabbed his adoptive father in the neck, punched him, placed him in a choke hold and “tried to pull out his eye,” according to the criminal complaint.
Lonnberg-Lane said he stopped the attack after hearing his father utter, “Preston, Preston, what are you doing?” detectives alleged.