Woman faces trial in West Norriton
NORRISTOWN >> A Delaware County woman’s fate will be decided by a Montgomery County jury in November when she faces a trial on charges she fatally beat two women inside a West Norriton residence.
The trial for Naseema Sami, 45, of the 200 block of Folsom Avenue in Folsom, will begin on Nov. 1, according to an order issued by Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter. The trial is slated to last five days. The trial date was selected after a conference between the judge and the lawyers in the case and selected to accommodate the availability of the lawyers and witnesses.
“This date is consistent with the business of the court in dealing with the COVID judicial emergency and its aftermath. There shall be no continuance,” Carpenter wrote in the order. “Attorneys are directed to properly notify any necessary witnesses and to have them available to testify when needed.”
Jury trials were suspended in the county in March 2020 as a precaution when the coronavirus pandemic surfaced. With vaccinations increasing and the COVID-19 positivity rate decreasing in the county jury trials are now being scheduled for late summer and early fall.
Sami faces two counts each of first- and third-degree murder in connection with the alleged March 7, 2019, slayings of Lila Frost, 78, and Lorraine Gigliello, 68, inside Frost’s West Norriton home.
A conviction of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing, carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
A conviction of third-degree murder, which is a killing committed with malice, carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
Sami also faces charges of criminal trespass, possessing an instrument of crime, tampering with evidence and endangering the welfare of a child.
Authorities alleged Sami’s 6-year-old son was with her at the time she killed the women inside Frost’s home in the first block of West Indian Lane in the Port Indian section of West Norriton.
Sami previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Deputy District Attorney Thomas W. McGoldrick is prosecuting the case. Defense lawyer Carrie L. Allman, chief homicide lawyer for the county’s Office of Public Defender, represents Sami.
Allman previously filed a notice of an insanity defense on behalf of Sami in county court.
Sami was experiencing symptoms of severe mental illness related to a delusional disorder, including “psychotic beliefs and intense paranoia” at the time of the alleged March 7 slayings, Allman argued in court papers.
Under state law, a person who is diagnosed as insane suffers from a mental defect that prevents them from knowing right from wrong or from realizing the nature and quality of their actions.
A person who is determined to be not guilty by reason of insanity at trial initially would be committed to a mental health facility for treatment and receive periodic evaluations. Once that person is deemed “cured” of mental illness they would be released from supervision with no requirement to serve any jail time.
Allman has proposed calling a forensic psychologist who evaluated Sami as well as several of Sami’s relatives to support the insanity defense during Sami’s trial.
McGoldrick responded to Sami’s notice of insanity defense with his own notice of witnesses he intends to call “to disprove or discredit” the insanity defense.
In 2019, Allman sought a competency evaluation for Sami. After that evaluation, Sami was deemed competent to proceed to trial on
the charges.
Sami remains in the county jail without bail while awaiting trial.
The investigation began at 8:17 p.m. March 10, 2019, when West Norriton police responded to a neighbor’s call for a wellness check at the Frost residence and found the victims’ bodies. Sami and her son were found hiding underneath a bed in the residence, authorities alleged.
A joint investigation by county detectives and township police revealed that Sami, a former tenant of Frost’s, had gone to the residence on March 7 with the child seeking unspecified help. Finding no one there, Sami allegedly entered the unlocked apartment.
Sami, according to a criminal complaint, told investigators Gigliello stopped by and asked what Sami was doing at the residence. When Gigliello threatened to call police and reached for a phone, Sami allegedly attacked Gigliello.
“Sami knocked the phone to the ground and began to strike Lorraine with several blows to the face and chest,” county Detective John Wittenberger and West Norriton Detective Charles Naber alleged in the arrest affidavit.
Sami allegedly told detectives she also used a broken tomato sauce bottle to slash and cut Gigliello.
Sami allegedly admitted to beating Frost to death when Frost came home in the midst of the attack on Gigliello.
“Sami stated she kicked Lila Frost into the bathtub and began kicking her in the head and neck until she died,” Wittenberger and Naber alleged.
Prosecutors alleged the victims suffered multiple injuries.
Sami’s son was present during the murders and also witnessed his mother’s attempt to clean the scene using bedclothes to wrap one of the bodies and more than 10 bottles of bleach, according to authorities.
The boy was interviewed at the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Center, Mission Kids, and is now staying with relatives, according to officials.
The deaths were the first homicides to occur in West Norriton since 1986, according to prosecutors.