Judge doubles prison sentence for Vignola Jr.

Saying he had lied to her and "played the court," a Philadelphia judge has more than doubled the prison sentence being served by Joseph C. Vignola Jr. for slashing the throat of an escort in 2008 and leaving her for dead.

Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes increased the sentence for Vignola, 21, from the original four years to 9 to 26 years at a hearing Tuesday afternoon on a reconsideration motion filed by Assistant District Attorney Robert Foster.

Hughes originally sentenced Vignola - son and namesake of the former city controller and councilman - to the sentence far lower than the 12- to 24-year prison term Foster requested.

The judge did so, in part, because of Vignola's history of emotional problems and because he testified that he sustained Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder during a series of extreme physical hazing incidents when he was at Valley Forge Military Academy.

Several weeks ago, Foster said, he obtained the records from Valley Forge and found no evidence of the incidents Vignola said occurred or the physical injuries he said he suffered.

The May 28, 2008 attack at a City Avenue hotel left the then 18-year-old escort with her throat slashed and unconscious with massive blood loss.

Police were led to the younger Vignola because he had used his father's cell phone to arrange the tryst.

Vignola originally blamed the attack on an African American intruder who burst into the room. Ultimately, he admitted that he and the escort argued and he then punched her unconscious, slashed her throat, took the cash he had paid her and left.