Ex-con gets 25-50 years in stabbing death of Philly correctional officer
After 21 years as an officer in Philadelphia prisons, Lottie Denny was well regarded by staff and inmates as a strong, no-nonsense person.
After 21 years as an officer in Philadelphia prisons, Lottie Denny was well regarded by staff and inmates as a strong, no-nonsense person.
But in the summer of 2014, Denny reconnected with Ronald Jones, 54, a guy she knew from her old South Philadelphia neighborhood, who had just been paroled from prison after doing 16 years for robbery. Months later, that connection cost Denny, a 51-year-old grandmother, her life.
On Monday, Jones pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, admitting he stabbed Denny on Oct. 14, 2014, after a money-losing evening at Harrah's Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack in Chester. The plea came as jury selection in his Common Pleas Court murder trial was about to begin.
Under the plea agreement negotiated by defense lawyer Robert Marc Gamburg and Assistant District Attorney Andrew Notaristefano, Judge Diana L. Anhalt sentenced Jones to 25 to 50 years in prison.
Jones said nothing before he was led from court.
His plea resulted in an emotional meeting between Denny's family and Raye Wilson, Jones' 76-year-old mother.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," a weeping Wilson said as she was hugged by Denny's only child, Carmella McNeal.
"It's not your fault," McNeal said. "We all raise our kids the best we can and they do what they do."
McNeal had no such words for Jones.
In a victim-impact statement, McNeal said she was torn between her Christian faith, which teaches forgiveness, and her anger at Jones.
"I will never forgive you, and that's something I will have to live with," McNeal told Jones.
"You didn't just kill her, you killed me - a large part of me," McNeal, who is married with two children, continued. "You killed my children's grandmother. . . . You took so much from my family."
Denny's body was found the morning of Oct. 17, 2014, in her home in the 2500 block of South 63rd Street in Southwest Philadelphia. Denny failed to report for work and prison officials called her brother, who went to the house.
Notaristefano said Denny was stabbed or slashed 45 times and a trail of blood went from an upstairs bedroom downstairs to the living room where she was found. He said the house was locked and there was no sign of a break-in.
Notaristefano said a neighbor reported seeing Denny alive on Oct. 14. The neighbor said Denny came home about 5 p.m. wearing her uniform, and left after changing into dressier clothing. Denny returned about 11 p.m. with Jones, whom the neighbor called Denny's boyfriend.
On Oct. 18, the prosecutor continued, Jones came in to speak with police "to clear his name," and said he and Denny had been to Harrah's on Oct. 14. Jones said he accompanied Denny back to her house but left in her SUV after a man came to the door and began arguing with her.
Notaristefano said Jones was arrested after a casino security video showed him and Denny in the casino. Though the video is silent, Notaristefano said the couple's body language "showed they were clearly not a happy couple when they went home."
Police later found Jones' sneakers in a plastic bag in Denny's SUV, and they tested positive for Denny's blood and DNA. Jones' and Denny's DNA were found on a broken-off wooden knife handle, Notaristefano said.
Notaristefano said a woman friend of Jones told investigators that Jones said Denny pressed him to get a job but that he had no luck because he was a parolee.
"She was bossy, but she gave him money," Jones' friend told police, said Notaristefano.
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