Accused Abington killer won’t face death penalty
NORRISTOWN » A Philadelphia man will not face the death penalty if he’s convicted of charges he intentionally killed his ex-girlfriend during a knife attack at the Meadowbrook Train Station in Abington.
Gilbert Newton III, 18, waived his formal arraignment in Montgomery County Court and pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the alleged 8:15 a.m. July 27 fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Morgan Darlyn McCaffery, of Abington, as the pair reportedly met on the parking lot of the train station to discuss their relationship.
Newton was set to have an in-person arraignment hearing on Wednesday. However, Newton, through his lawyer A. Charles Peruto Jr., filed paperwork in court waiving his right to the hearing and entered the not guilty pleas.
It is during an arraignment hearing that prosecutors must notify the judge if they intend to seek the death penalty in the event of a conviction of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing.
“We looked at the case and reviewed everything and analyzed it and the determination was that the aggravating factors weren’t there for the death penalty,” county Assistant District Attorney Kathleen McLaughlin explained on Wednesday.
Under state law, first-degree murder is punishable by either life imprisonment or death by lethal injection.
In order to obtain the 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 about 18 aggravating factors, under state law, which they can use to seek the death penalty.
With the death penalty off the table, Newton will face a sentence of life imprisonment if convicted at trial of the first-degree murder charge. A conviction of third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison upon conviction.
In a previous order, county Judge Henry S. Hilles III said Newton’s jury trial will begin on March 15. The judge added that a hearing on all pretrial motions will be held on Feb. 10 in a courtroom to be determined at the county courthouse.
Newton is being held at the county jail in Lower Providence without bail while awaiting trial.
The investigation began when Abington police responded to the train station parking lot at Lindsay Lane and Mill Road for a report of a disturbance and found McCaffery lying in the parking lot, covered in blood, according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective William Mitchell and Abington Detective Donald Lindenmuth.
“The officers observed apparent stab or cutting wounds to the woman’s stomach and neck, as well as scrapes to her arms,” Mitchell and Lindenmuth wrote in the arrest affidavit, adding McCaffery was lying on her back in the parking lot near her vehicle, a Toyota RAV4.
“The car was running and there was a large bloodstained Ginsu knife on the passenger-side floor. Under the victim’s body detectives found another Ginsu knife handle with a partial blade. The presumed remainder of the blade was on the ground between the victim and the victim’s car,” Mitchell and Lindenmuth added.
An autopsy determined McCaffery sustained “at least 30 stab and slash wounds” and her death was ruled a homicide.
A short time later, Philadelphia police responded to a 911 call at Newton’s Ferndale Street residence where
Newton’s mother “told them her son was covered in blood and had said that he had hurt his girlfriend,” according to the criminal complaint.
Police, according to court papers, observed Newton sitting on a couch, “blood on his pants, hands and tshirt.” Authorities also observed blood on the outside of the driver’s side door of the white Jeep vehicle allegedly operated by Newton at the time of the attack, according to the arrest affidavit.
Newton allegedly confessed to police that he had stabbed McCaffery and officers observed that he had wounds to his hands, specifically a cut to his right hand.
During the investigation, friends of McCaffery told detectives that the young woman and Newton ended their year-long relationship about a month before the alleged fatal attack. One friend told detectives that McCaffery had contacted her after the breakup and claimed that Newton had “threatened her and she was scared for her safety,” Mitchell and Lindenmuth alleged in court papers.
Newton allegedly had been contacting McCaffery “in an attempt to rekindle the relationship claiming he was going to ‘ fix things’ or change himself, detectives said.